A New Doo

I couldn't stand the stringy hair anymore and gave Samy a big haircut last week. I finally took some pictures this morning :)

And here is Isaac pretending to eat the food he made.

Our growing children

Our little cuties are growing like weeds! Today we got Samy a big girl bed. This week Isaac read a sentence. And they are becoming such good friends!
I've been going through "100 Easy Lessons to Teach Your Child to Read" with Isaac, and he's picking it up fast. This week he read his first sentence (which they call a story): "See me eat." He wanted to color the little picture they had in the book and then he drew his own. It was helpful being told by an older, wiser lady this week to not tell little boys to sit still, they just can't :) And he never does! Always looking around, fidgeting but he's learning while he does it.
Samy was so excited about her new bed! Tomorrow she and I are going on a date to find a comforter for her big girl bed--she already told me she wants purple :) And we've been working on potty training again, which is going really well. She certainly is aware of what she's doing because it only took a couple reminders and now she's telling me (most of the time) that she needs to go potty (except number 2). When she finally does go all the time, she gets to go to the toy store and pick something out--she's already decided it will be a princess, though it oscillates between Snow White and Sleeping Beauty.

And those two are just adorable together! They've become such good friends, playing together all day with MUCH less fighting than there has been. Samy is the one asking Isaac to play in the basement now. They run around or play with her dollhouse together, which is pretty funny. I love overhearing their scenarios which go between reality like taking baths, going to bed, the kids saying "I'm hungry" over and over, and Papaw changing Samy's poopy diaper--oh wait that's not reality :) and of course complete fantasy, like the other day when a dragon landed on their house and Mommy fought him off :)
I love seeing God work in their little hearts and grow their friendship!

Isaac's surgery

We found Isaac's hernia on Thanksgiving day. He had been running around like he usually does but kept complaining his stomach hurt. When I noticed how low he was holding I looked and found a textbook hernia. Our pediatrician referred us to a surgeon who is just wonderful! He had both of our kids laughing hysterically within a minute of entering the room and he explained things so thoroughly yet simply to us. Our love for him only grew when Isaac was writhing in pain Christmas night and he called us back not once but twice!
His surgery is scheduled for January 26th and we'd love your prayers! Though it is a simple out-patient procedure, what parent wants to put their child "under"? I struggled a lot with fear the first weeks after we found out. Thinking we haven't had any major trials plus we were reading a book on suffering. I was assuming the worst would happen. While talking with some of the Pastors College wives at gym day, one was saying how all of her children had had serious illnesses when they were very young. She said something to the effect of "I had to come to a place of believing that even if God took them He is still good. I couldn't assume that because He had protected and healed my other children He would do the same this time." That was so helpful to my heart! Instead of pushing my fears of the worst aside, I needed to correct my thinking. God is faithful, good, kind, loving and sovereign! Our trust is in Him in every situation, from the everyday to the most difficult.

Though Satan should buffet
Though trial should come
Let this blest assurance control
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate
And hath shed His own blood for my soul!

Our Christmas travels

So I still have plenty more to share from after our snowy adventure on the way to Tennessee. We had a wonderful (though short) time with my family in Knoxville. Presents, food, games, lots of playful children, and a dress for every princess Samy could think of :) The kids had a great time with their cousins! We only got to stay a couple days then we were off to Georgia. Our first stop was in Woodstock to see our dear friends from Orlando who have relocated to Georgia. What a rich time, but way too short!!
Then we were on to Macon to see all of Keith's relatives--all of them! I love how we get to see all of his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins at one location! The kids had a blast with Grandan & Bubbe and Grandma! Dan and Linda had planned some little "treasure hunts" for the kids on their property ("Grandan's woods" as Isaac calls it), which was just a hoot for all of us. Samy was gung-ho on digging up her treasure until we got there. She held the little shovel for about 2 seconds and declared, "I can't" in that sweet little voice of hers :)
Isaac had way too much fun riding the four-wheeler. You could hear him laughing even though you couldn't see them. And apparently four-wheeling isn't so good for hernias (Isaac has one that is getting fixed this month) because Christmas night we had a good scare when he woke up in serious pain. We had him in the car ready to go to the emergency room when his surgeon called us back and said to put him in a warm bath and see if that helped. We certainly had our doubts that it would, but I guess the surgeon knows what he's talking about :) after about 10 minutes Isaac was calm and feeling better and asked, "Can I have something to eat?" Our little eating machine :)
We were off to Knoxville again, but stopped in Atlanta on the way up to hear my older brother preach! What a treat that we got to be there for his "debut" :) It's so encouraging to see God's work in Mark's life going from "Gaston" likeness in college (a very proud, vain guy in Beauty & the Beast) to such a humble man of God! We're so grateful for the example Mark and Kim and their children are to us!
So, then Keith was able to work remotely in Knoxville for a couple days and I got to have more time with my fam :) What a blessing!!!

And since then I've been trying to recoup and get our house back in order. Here's lots of pictures from our journey (though none from our motel b/c I wasn't willing to go dig it out from the back of the van).

I wasn't dreaming of a white Christmas

We left for our long Christmas vacation the Friday before Christmas. There was snow forecast up here in Maryland but it wasn't supposed to arrive until midnight so we figured we had plenty of time. We left around 3 and encountered a good deal of traffic as we got into Virginia. We had been in the car less than 3 hours when it started snowing. At first it seemed like we could make it, just a little snow, right? Within 10 minutes Keith could barely see the lines on the road. A few more minutes and he was feeling a little slip here and there. Time to find a place to sleep for the night :) So, we spent two nights in the Knights Inn in Verona, Virginia--if you're wondering if it's a good vacation spot, I assure you its not :) We kept hearing rumors the next morning that the interstate was clear, but the road to our motel was not and snow was STILL falling (for almost 24 hours). Numerous cars stuck in the snow assured us we should stay another night. We ended up with almost 2 feet of snow where we were! I had grabbed all of our snow gloves (and thankfully my snow pants were in the bag too!) on the way out but nothing else. Keith walked to the Wendy's and gas station at the end of the road the first night for dinner and a $5 box of raisin bran for the next morning. Day two he made the 1.5 mile trek through two feet of snow in tennis shoes to the Food Lion for some more food. He's my hero! For being stuck in a tiny (and nasty) motel room for 2 days, the kids did surprisingly well. We took them up to the lobby once to run around and they got covered in snow on the way back and totally soaked. We left early Sunday morning to brave 100 miles of ice and snow on the roads. We drove 6 hours straight without a single stop or complaint from our children! I think they were as glad as us to be going to Grammy & Papaw's house and not staying in that motel!
Not that I ever want to repeat it, but it certainly made some memories!