Jonah's Eight!

Jonah turned 8 on December 8th in 2008.  

He's smart, handsome, very gifted athletically,(he's never tried a sport that he wasn't good at), sensitive, nurturing towards Ezekiel, manipulative, difficult, sly, crafty, quite witty, humorous, and a wonderful conversationalist.  

When he was born it was sincerely the happiest day of my life (so far).  Perhaps I shouldn't say that, but it was.  I had been terrified of dying when he was born because I'd almost died when Jackson was born.  I went into the operating room for my C-section at 8 am on December 8, 2000 wondering if I was getting ready to go to heaven.  I know that sounds ridiculously dramatic, but I'm serious when I say that I wondered if this time around I wasn't going to be so fortunate.  Obviously the Lord knew of my terror and anguish and he used my two year old son Jackson to comfort me.  I was packing my bag to go to the hospital, praying while I packed. Jackson, who was playing with some cars down by my feet, looked up at me while I was packing and said: "Mom, it's going to be OK." 

"What's going to be OK?" I asked.  He just repeated "Mom, it's going to be OK."  Then, he went back to playing with his cars.  

God had used the mouth of babes to speak to one anxious mama.  He still speaks to me through my children.  He speaks to me through His Word.  He speaks to me in my spirit.  I'm so grateful that He still speaks!  

Jonah's birth healed a part of me that had been deeply wounded 2 years, and 9 months earlier.  Jonah was a joy as a baby.  He was so easy!  He was by far the easiest baby of my four boys!  He was always happy.  Jonah is a mama's boy, and to put it simply I'm crazy about him!!!  He loves me in such a special way.  He's very quiet about it.  One wouldn't notice if they weren't really looking, but in the times when no ones around, he comes to me, checking on me, opening up to me, complimenting me, just loving me.  He's so tender about it.  He won't even do it if Marshall's around.  He's a private person.  Most people in his life really don't know him very well because he doesn't let them know him.  He's guarded.  I'm not all together sure why, but he just is.  He doesn't reveal anything that he doesn't have to.  He's SO precious to me!  He's a treasure, and now.................he's eight!

The dreaded family photo!

Well, I didn't have the patience to try to get a good family photo in time for Christmas cards, but I did still want to get one.  So, I forced my family to dress nice, and smile for me this morning between first service & second service.  We took a gagillion pictures and got a couple of decent ones.  Its so much easier to get good pictures when you only have adults or only have ONE child in the picture.  I included one of the really bad ones, as I feel that it better represents reality.  Just tryin' to keep it real.  Here are the results:

A Surprise Hot Chocolate Evening

My parents surprised the boys by coming by Sunday night so that we could all enjoy some hot chocolate together.  It was such a nice treat for all!  We played the "question game" that Ethan created.  We laughed A LOT through the game.  It was such a fun time.  However, I never cease to be amazed at how chaotic it is to try to do anything with four children who all want to talk at the same time.  It was a loud evening...........a really lovely evening.  After the kids went to bed the adults had a wonderful time talking and cherishing each other & our conversation with one another.  How grateful I am that I have two parents who are still married to one another!  They're so much better together!  As we talked my dad shared about how this is the first Christmas where he hasn't had a deep sadness in his heart.  It's taken a lot of healing, a lot of counseling, a lot of work, patience, and determination to be whole for him to reach this point!  I'm so proud of  his desire to be a healthy, whole, man of God.  Here's some pictures from our evening.