Costumes

Is this the most darling little cow you've ever seen, or what?!?

Cinderella

Look out! Here comes the Spiderman!

We love to play dress up...and we play it all the time! Actually, Titus and Audra have been dressing up in these costumes about every other day for the past month. One day right after we got Spiderman, we needed to make a quick trip to Target when the kids had these on. Titus really wanted to wear his and I didn't want to go through the hassle of changing them, so they wore their costumes.

When we got to Target, Scott and Titus (in full costume) were walking up in front of us. We were following behind with Audra and Justus in the shopping cart. It was hilarious to watch people look at Titus as he casually walked through the store. Inevitably, they would stare and then as soon as they passed they'd look at each other and laugh hysterically. Then I would laugh at them laughing! Titus kept looking at Scott as if to say, "What?" Scott would just reply, "Hey man, it's not everyday they get to see Spiderman!"

Carving Pumpkins

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house." Matthew 5:14-16

This verse has been my theme for our family this year for Halloween. It is actually referring to Jesus, but it is my hope that our home has been a light in the darkness of Halloween this year.

Titus has been asking to carve a jack-o-lantern since we got those pumpkin patch books from the library. We've never made one before because I don't like the scary faces and usually I just put out lots of pumpkins from the pumpkin patch for Fall. Titus really wanted a jack-o-lantern with a scary face to "chase the bandits away". Thankfully, I found a book (The Pumpkin Patch Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs) that tells a sweet story about a farmer's pumpkin becoming a jack-o-lantern. She compares it to how God's transforming love can fill each of our hearts with joy and light. In the end when people saw the smiling pumpkin, it caused them to smile back.

Titus seemed satisfied with that and agreed to make a jack-o-lantern with a happy face. After Halloween, Titus asked me, "Mommy, did the kids smile when they saw our pumpkin?" I bet they did.

Colorado

(The view of Boulder and the foothills of the Rocky Mountains from Broomfield, CO. This was taken about 5 blocks from the apartment where we lived.)

The day after we got the news about Tennyson, we loaded up the car and drove to Colorado. We wanted to be there to celebrate his life and love on our friends, Brian & Marchelle, who are experiencing such a great loss. I'm not quite ready to attempt to write about Tennyson, but our friend, Brian Scaglia (his best friend since junior high) has created a website in honor of his life: www.tennysonmccarty.com. Every word I've tried to come up with to describe Tennyson McCarty seems trite. If you read his obituary on the website or glance at some of the comments, you will discover what a rare person Tennyson was and what an impact his life had an so many people.

I spent the week very heavy-hearted and contemplative. 24 hours after the call about Tennyson, I received another phone call from a Colorado friend who wanted me to know before I arrived that her husband has filed for a divorce. She is one of the last people I would have expected to get this call from. She was just as shocked. She's pregnant with their fourth baby. How someone could walk away from the goodness of God, his wife, and four children without considering the consequences is something my brain has been trying to reconcile all week. It is very sobering to ponder what any of us is capable of if we allow our heart to harden. (Each of us has our own areas of selfishness, unforgiveness, or bitterness to surrender.) Another friend in Colorado, Cathy Lee, recommended the book, When Godly People Do Ungodly Things by Beth Moore. I think I'm going to check it out.

On top of all that, all three of my kids got the stomach flu and each threw up for about 24 hours! After that, we decided to pack up and come home early! (This is beginning to sound worse than a country song!) Poor kiddos! We didn't get to spend as much time or see as many people as we would have liked since the kids got sick (and due to the unplanned nature of our trip), but I'm so thankful for the time that we were able to spend with friends. I'm also so grateful to Jason and Anita Foster for inviting us to stay with them for the week. They are so generous and hospitable. We also had a great time staying up late playing games after the kids went to bed! Titus was so happy to play with their son, Aaron, and on the drive home said, "I love my best friend, Aaron." They've known each other since they were 2 1/2 and have always played incredibly well together. Thank you, Fosters! (You still owe me a picture!)

On to the more fun side of the trip:

Starbucks with Tim & Kristen Zandee. We caused such a scene in Starbucks! Tim and Scott are a riot when they are together!

Kimberly & Griffin Hill. It was SO good to see you!

Fondue with Caleb and Anne Ford! Titus introduced himself to Caleb and Anne as "Titus, but I'm pretending to be Spiderman" and thus began an entertaining evening of fondue with "Spiderman" and "Princess". The waitress even wrote their aliases on their cups! Thank you guys for driving up to have dinner with our crew!

Pearl Street Mall--Boulder, Colorado

Lunch at the Cheesecake Factory with Jyoti, Natasha, and Ava Bennell. Yummmmm.

After lunch, we took the kids outside to play on Pearl Street Mall. It was an incredibly beautiful Fall day. Notice the mountains in the background? Pearl Street always brings back so many memories for me from my college years!


Justus loved playing with Jyoti's beard!

OK, I could not resist the temptation to take this picture! This is so classic Pearl Street. Where else on Earth would you see a pajama-wearing hippie playing a harp and singing opera?!?!

Tennyson McCarty

We got news from Colorado this morning that a friend of ours, a HERO of the faith, has died unexpectedly. Scott wrote this letter and asked me to post it on my blog:

I wonder if you will ever know
The way you touched things to make them grow
Your heart was pure and your life true
Now we are standing to honor you
With the angels around you and your Savior's embrace
I close my eyes to see your face
You fought a great fight and the Lord has you now
No more tears, pain, or fear; you kept your hands to the plow
The fruit of your life here it remains
It will not wither, it will not change
Today we all mourn our friend we will miss
But someday we will see you and embrace with a hug & kiss
I thank God for your life and your heavenly bliss
But today you should know you are a friend I will miss.

I love you, Tennyson.

Hiking at Lost Valley

Wow! I love hiking in October in Arkansas: the weather is perfect! My friend, Kim Petrone, recommended Lost Valley to me after she saw my blog post about Devil's Den. I looked it up in my Arkansas Dayhikes book and it sounded gorgeous, so we decided to check it out. It was beautiful and has so much geographic variety for a short hike! The drive over was a little far, so this would be an ideal spot for camping and then waking up to a morning hike.

Justus loves riding in his backpack! Once again, he slept for over half of the hike and rode along contently the rest of the time.

Daddy, Titus, and Audra blazing the trail ahead.

On the hike in Audra was not quite as content as Justus. She wanted a ride, too. This reminded me so much of when I was a little girl and rode EVERYWHERE on my Dad's shoulders (including his morning jogs and volksmarches through mountain vineyards when he was stationed in Germany). I had to take a picture to show Gramps.

There are so many gorgeous things to see on this hike, but my camera (or my photography) did not do them justice. Here Audra is throwing rocks into a creek in front of a massive natural bridge/tunnel. Scott and the kids climbed up into and through it. Justus and I followed the trail and met them on the other side. Then Scott and Titus climbed up the trail to the cave, while Audra, Justus and I went down to the waterfall. Titus reported that the back of the cave has a room with a waterfall pouring down into it! This time of year both waterfalls are only a trickle. I can only imagine what it will look like in the Spring! I'm looking forward to it!

Speechless

Becky Lee with her mom, Joy, and daughter, Elsa.

There are times when God leaves me speechless. (Oh, hush! I know you are thinking, "When was that?" I'm sure there was a time...once.) There are other times when He does something so mind-blowing that I could make an absolute fool out of myself telling anyone and everyone who will listen. Well, this is one of those times. (Psalm 47:1-8) A couple years ago, I heard Beth Moore say, "When He descends upon us, God forbid that we not shout for joy...I believe the more we clap, the more inclined our Lord is to come in with an encore!" Well, friends, God forbid that I not shout for joy! He truly is our Present Help, our Coming King, our Rescuer, our Fulfiller, our Hope, our Comfort, and He is just SO EXTRAVAGANT...in the way that he pursues us, forgives us, and loves us.

Ironically enough I've written and deleted three different paragraphs to follow the preceding one. Maybe, I am speechless. None of my words have seemed adequate. I guess the important thing is what I wrote above. The other important thing is that God brought a childhood friend back into my life 6 weeks ago. Through her, God is building my faith. I have observed God orchestrate SO MANY incredible details in order to love her, provide for her, and prove himself to her. One of the MANY ways that God has done this is that my friend, Becky Lee (above), offered to organize a Garage Sale in order to raise money to help her pay her bills during her unpaid maternity leave coming up. We emailed friends from church and Bible Study, who donated their time and belongings. It was an enormous labor of love especially for Becky and her Mom, who flew in from California to help. The two of them hardly slept for four days as they organized, priced, and sold all of the donated items. She is the real deal. When a person truly "gets" what God has done for her, she wants to give it away. Whatever the cost. It's worth it. THAT is authenticity; THAT is so rare and attractive. Oh, by the way, that little labor of love earned $3,000! Yes, you read it correctly: $3,000!!! I'm sure there are some people out there who could have effortlessly written a $3,000 check for my friend...but it would never have touched as many lives as this community effort did...and I doubt we all would have felt God descending upon us the way that we did. There are so many other details, but that is the important one. God forbid that we take it for granted. God forbid that I not shout for joy!!!

Thank you, also, to the many other friends who gave valuable belongings and time to help provide for my friend. I am so grateful to you.

Giddy-up!

Titus playing in my cowboy boots after breakfast this morning!

Happy Birthday Ian!

Today was Ian Murphy's 5th Birthday! Thank you so much to the Murphys for inviting us to the celebration! We had a great time playing and it was such a BEAUTIFUL Fall day!

In other news: Titus scored his first soccer goal in a game this morning! I really wish I had captured it on video! He is normally not terribly interested in the game, but I have to confess that Scott offered to buy him a piece of candy if he scored a goal. (Thinking the incentive might motivate him to try.) The very next play, he broke away from the group towards the goal with the ball. His eyes were huge with anticipation and he kicked it right in. GOAL! I jumped up and cheered for him from the sideline and he looked at me beaming and pumping his arms up in the air in victory! He loved it!

Kate's Tea Party

Tonight Audra and I had a Girls' Night Out together and went to Kate Bell's 4th Birthday party. It was any little girl's dream come true: a tea party complete with dresses, gloves, jewelry, hats, feather boas, sugar cookies, cake, and a surprise visit from Princess Belle (from Beauty & The Beast). Audra thought the feather boa "hurt", but she was happy to wear her hat all evening.

This is Audra's sweet friend, Jaycee. Her Mom, Kim, is one of my dear friends and we co-lead our Beth Moore Bible Study together.


Happy Birthday, Kate!

Enjoying a Girls' Night Out together! When Audra received this princss wand at the end of the night, she was delighted and started hopping around the room saying, "Now I'm a princess." My sweet daughter, your name means "Noble Strength" and you were born a princess. You are a daughter of the King of Kings--you are the "apple of His eye"--and nothing can change that! It is your heritage and your destiny.

"But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are a kingdom of priests, God's holy nation, his very own possession. This is so you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light." I Peter 2:9

Audra, may your life show others the goodness of God!

Prayers for Mimi

Mimi (my mother) hasn't been feeling well this week, so at bedtime I suggested that the kids pray for her and ask God to heal her body and help her feel better. Here is their response:

Audra's Prayer: "Thank you for God...and help make Mimi feel better when Mimi's not feeling very better...and we go in the backyard. Amen."

Titus and I were discussing God's ability to heal when he said:

"God's so powerful! He's the only guy who can heal people...Band-Aids can help, too."

And this was his prayer: "Dear God, Please help Mimi, my grandma, feel better. In Jesus name, Amen." (pause) "Mommy, did He say yes?"

We love you, Mimi!

Hiking at Devil's Den State Park

On Friday, Scott worked a half day and then we headed down to Devil's Den to take the kids hiking. Despite its unfortunate name, this really is one of the best hiking trails in "The Natural State." Titus' comment during the hike was, "This is hopefully the happiest day of the year!" In the picture above we are all standing down in the mouth of a cave called, Devil's Icebox. It was about 20 degrees cooler in there than it was outside and we could feel a cool breeze rising from deep inside the mountain!


This is a picture of Audra climbing around on the rocks. Scott and Titus were inside the other cave called Devil's Den Cave. Originally, Audra went in with the boys but she slipped and landed in the mud when she was about 15 feet in. That was the end of her splunking adventure; she decided to come wait outside with Justus and me.

On a side note, the last time I went in that cave was when I was in junior high and my brother took me there with a bunch of his college friends. (We went at night and I was terrified, but didn't want anyone to know. If I remember correctly, I think we saw bats.) For the record, I have the best big brother on the planet. How many college guys would take their baby sister caving? (I'm 7 years younger.) He also took me to a Kool and the Gang concert with his friends (and we danced togther all night on the front row) AND he coached my softball and basketball teams for two years!!! All of this was when he was in college and I was in 6th and 7th grade! Can you believe that?!?! It is because of him that I really wanted to have a boy first because I thought every little girl should have a big brother! I love you, Richard, and feel so privileged to be your little sister!


I let Justus get out and climb around while the boys were in the cave, too! Look at my little rock climber!


We came. We saw. We conquered the cave! Titus is flexing his splunking muscle! On the way home, Titus said, "That was a GREAT underground adventure!"


Justus is worn out from his strenuous hike!

For those of you who live in this area, I highly recommend taking your kids. It is so beautiful! There are also two waterfalls, but they are just trickling this time of year. Don't forget water bottles, flashlights for the caves, and clothes you don't mind getting muddy. (Parts of the caves are narrow and muddy.) I would also recommend taking a lunch or snack so you can sit down and take a break half way through. My kids were pretty tired by the very end...but it was so worth it!

Pickin' Punkins at Penzo's Pumpkin Patch

Some friends from Bible Study and I took our kids to a family-owned pumpkin patch in Tontitown. We went on a hayride through their pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins. The kids loved it! I took Titus and Audra to the library a few days before to get books on pumpkins, in order to get them more interested. It was so funny the things the said from those books while we were there!


Here is Titus with his giant pumpkin! He measured each potential pumpkin by its ability to become a jack-o-lantern or pumpkin pie (which we read about in one of the books). Audra kept telling everyone that this was "Mommy's prize pumpkin." (We read about giant pumpkins that won prizes, so I guess that is where she got that.) The fields were a little muddy and Titus was not a big fan of that...but he was fascinated by the tractor and kept asking questions to the farmer like, "Why are the wheels so big?"


This is the pumpkin that Audra picked out. It was the first pumpkin that she spotted and she jumped out of the trailer squeeling, "Mommy, look what I found! A GREEN pumpkin!" She was thrilled with her find. After that, she spent the rest of the afternoon telling everyone that she was looking for onions. Why? I have no idea. I'm not sure if she thought "pumpkins" sound like "onions" or if she just thought one of the ones that weren't ripe looked like an onion. Who knows!?!? She also kept the farmer's wife laughing on the back of the trailer. Everytime she would tell Audra something about the farm, Audra would reply, "Oh, my!" (Like that was the most interesting thing she'd ever heard.) She's a hoot!

More Pumpkin Patch Pictures

Here are some more pictures that my friend, Jill Bell, took of our group:

Luke Bell. I think this one could win a photo contest.


Audra with Kate Bell. Audra adores her.

Christy Murphy with Ian and Lia. Titus saw this picture and said, "Mommy, that's Ian. He's a wolf." (They are on the same soccer team.)

Beth Saferite with Nathan. Isn't this precious?

The Rileys

Tonight we had Bryan & Tara Riley and their three kids over for dinner. Growing up, Tara and I were in Youth Group at UBC together. She was three years older, so I didn't know her well. She actually knew Richard better. At any rate, she shared at Bible Study last week and I wanted to invite them over so Scott could hear their story.

This family is crazy. Crazy in a gutsy, thrilling, adventurous, rebel against the norm, livin' the dream kind of way. Bryan was a very successful attorney for Tyson Foods. Notice the word "was". Fifteen months ago he spontaneously quit his job one day (after months of feeling empty and unsatisfied in it) and realized that his pursuit of financial success and recognition had been over-rated. It was a lie and he was done. Ten days later they were in Hawaii training for the mission field! They've spent the past 15 months traveling the world with YWAM. Much of that time the five of them lived in ONE ROOM...quite a change from the 4,000 sq foot house they had been living in!

It was so inspiring to hear Tara share of the joy that came from trading in the counterfit riches of our American culture for the rich life they have experienced while discovering God in new ways and serving people in England and the Phillipines. (Isaiah 55:1-3, 8-12) Check out Bryan's blog at http://charisshalom.fjministries.com/

Titus Read His First Book!

I am glowing! I bet you can see it through the computer. My first child read his first book this afternoon! I was shocked. I really didn't think he'd be able to read the whole book to me when I asked him to try. Some of it was memorized, but that is pre-reading and he just used it as cues and sounded the rest of the words out! He was beaming by the end...and we were high-fiving and laughing and hugging. It was quite a sight! Sometimes I'm amazed at how easily kids learn. I wish I could credit my teaching skills, but my efforts have been more haphazard than I'd like to admit. I also wish I had some timeless classic title to give you, but his first book was Backyardigans: I Can Surf. Titus, I'm so proud of you!