Lucas Lost His First Tooth!

     This afternoon Lucas lost his first tooth that was ready to come out. Grammie noticed he had one that was really wiggly. Joshua pulled on it, and it came right out. It was right under the one he knocked loose and fell out last November, so now Lucas has a big hole in his smile!

Sweet Sisters

     Calli sent me this picture of the girls this morning. We've been having withdrawals because they've been sick and, we've haven't been able to see them. We miss and love our girls! We hope to see them this week.

Throwback Thursday WWE Live

     Last September, we took the boys to see the WWE Live event for their birthday. They love wrestling just like their daddy, and were so excited to go! I don't usually enjoy the wrestling. But even I have to admit, it was a pretty fun night!

Lucas's First Week of PreK

     Lucas's has finished his first week of PreK, and it was an awesome week! Both days he had good behavior reports from his teacher. Today she said, "He had a super awesome day! I wish I had one or two more Lucases in my class!"

    Today was Grandparents's Day, so Grammie took him to school. They had donuts and juice. He gave Grammie a gift he had made for her. He was very proud of his gift! 

     Both days when he got in the car, Lucas told me about his Bible story and some of the things they did at school. He had such a great week that Grammie took him to Target to buy a new toy to celebrate. 

Pictures with Uncle Josh

     Calli arranged for the kids and mom to have their pictures made with Uncle Josh when he was in town. It was very last minute, but I'm so glad we were able to do them.

Lucas's First Day of PreK

     Today was Lucas's first day of PreK. He's been so excited and anxious to start school. He jumped out of bed when I went in to wake him up. He wanted cinnamon waffles and strawberry milk for breakfast.

    Then I got him dressed, and we took out first day of school pictures. 

     

     

     

      First we dropped Logan off at school. Then we came home for a few minutes before heading off to Lucas's school. When we got out of the car, Lucas grabbed a hold of my hand and held on for dear life. As soon as we put away his things and got him seated, he was all good. I watched him play with play dough and cookie cutters. 

     Then I told him it was time for me to go. He said okay, gave me kiss, and told me bye. I didn't cry until I got home. And even then I just shed a few tears. I couldn't help but think, this would've been my time with my baby girl, but I kept busy and had a productive day. 

    When I went to pick Lucas up, he was eating his snack. He was happy, and Miss Pat said he had a really good day. In the car, he asked me not to pick him until snack time was over. Lucas told us the Bible story was Jesus let the children come to Him. He loves the playground! And he was counting to 25 in the car. I think he's going to be really happy. 

Big Enough

     My pastor started a sermon series on the book of Ruth today. I was so excited because I've always loved studying the book of Ruth, and was eager to get something new from Ruth's story. As we read through chapter one together, I connected with Naomi in the story like I never have before. She lost her husband and then both sons. She felt like her world was over. She had lost everything. When she returned to Bethlehem, she told them she was returning empty. She was focused on what she had lost, husband, sons instead of what she had had, a daughter in law who was willing to give up everything for her.

     I feel like I've been like Naomi lately. I've been focusing on what I lost, my baby girl, rather than focusing on what I have. I still have my Joshua, and my boys. So many friendships in my life have been strengthened. Some of the very friends in my life that have comforted me, I have then in turn been able to return the comfort they have shown me.

     As we were reading through the first chapter of Ruth, I was holding back to tears. As Pastor Matt, wrapped up his sermon, he said two things that I felt were spoken directly to me. The first thing was that God often uses the sorrowful, tragic events in our lives to set the stage for a greater triumph. I've known all along that God was working to bring good out of our loss, but I think I've lot sight of that recently. The grief has been overwhelming, and I've taken my focus off of looking for the ways He is working good through the loss of Liana. It also occurred to me that the triumph He brings from the tragedy may not "look" the way I think it will look.

     The second thing Pastor Matt said that really spoke to my heart is that God is big enough for my grief and my anger and my frustrations. I couldn't hold the tears back anymore. I needed the reminder that God is big enough for me in my grief. I let the overwhelmingness of my grief allow me to lose sight of how big my God is. Those tears were tears of relief. I grieve with hope knowing that my God is bigger than the grief. I needed to be reminded that I don't have to carry my burden of grief alone.