What Grammies Are For

    My mom just got home from spending the night with my sister. Lucas has been following her around since she walked in the door. While she was unpacking her bag, Lucas was talking to her and told her "Mammies are for snuggles."

 
 Of course, Mammie dropped what she was doing to snuggle and eat gold fish with him! With a little prodding, I got Lukie to say it for the camera. It's so sweet!

A Precious Memory

    Tonight as I was tucking the boys into their bed, Logan needed a Kleenex. I took a few minutes to snuggle with Lucas and sing Jesus Loves Me. I have always sang this to the boys replacing "me" in the song with their name. As I was finishing singing it to Lucas, Logan crawled into bed and asked if I was going to sing it to him. I told him of course! When I got to the chorus, Lucas began to sing with me Yes, Jesus loves Logan. It brought tears to my eyes! It was such a precious moment. Such a simple praise song, but what a powerful message! 

   Jesus loves Logan, this I know

For the Bible tells me so.

Little Logan to Him belongs.

Logan is weak;

But Jesus is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves Lucas! 

Yes, Jesus loves Lucas!

Yes, Jesus loves Lucas!

The Bible tells me so.

   

Wordless Wednesday: Crazy Shaw Boys Edition

Fun with Friends

    Heather, Josiah, and Grayson came down from Arkansas to put new carpet in their house here. They're trying to sell if anyone is looking. On Friday night, Heather picked me up and we met Rikki at the Cheesecake Factory. It was so much fun chatting and catching up. I did have a piece of cheesecake since I have been added sugar free. Once I got I home my stomach hurt. It was so sweet; I wished I hadn't eaten it. By the way, I'm proud to say I'm back to being added sugar free and think I'm going to continue except for special occasions after January is over. The fourth member of our little group Krista had other plans and wasn't able to join us.

    On Saturday, we met at McDonald's for lunch and playtime. We're missing Grayson who got sick and the Rikki's girls because baby Hannah was sick. The kids had so much fun eating and playing. They all got along so well. While we were there, there was a little boy who was being a bully. Things settled down again once that child left. Isn't it amazing what one little person can do!

   
    Here's baby Miles! He was such a happy, content baby the whole time. He didn't fuss once!

    Heather and the boys left after our play date since GrayGray was sick. We are so thankful for the time we were able to spend with them!

     On Sunday, we had lunch and the quarterly  business conference after church. We ate pizza, salad, and cookies. Since Hannah was sick and Brice was part of running the meeting, Rachel sat with us and Chelsea joined our table for the eating part. Logan, Rachel, and Chelsea did a great job of sitting quietly during the meeting.

    After Lucas finished eating, he went back to the nursery to play with his friends.

   
    We finished our Sunday with a family nap and just relaxing at home.

Spring Creek Spirit Night

    Tonight was Hobbs Williams spirit night at Spring Creek Barbecue. One of my best friends and my reading buddy Robin and I worked a shift together passing out hot rolls. We had so much fun serving rolls and visiting with the students, teachers, and their families! After we finished our shift, we got to enjoy a free meal courtesy of Spring Creek. It was so good getting to sit down and catch up with Robin. Even though we see each other almost every day, we don't always get to visit because we have our students with us. So many of my former students and their families were there tonight as well. I loved the opportunity to chat with them and their parents.

Fun and Games

    Aunt Calli and Uncle Robert came over tonight for game night. Logan loves playing games and kept asking all day when they were coming.

    The big boys played Mario Party 8 on Wii. Logan and Lucas would climb up next to Daddy and Uncle Robert from time to time to help them play.

    Aunt Calli and I played board games with the boys. Logan was so excited that he could count the dice and write the numbers on score card!

    Lucas loves playing Candy Land and is already really good at naming and matching the colors. I think Grammie enjoyed being on her Nook without little boys trying to help her.

   
    Logan showed off to Aunt Calli the numbers he recognized on the Chutes and Ladders game board. Lucas loved sliding his game piece down the chutes!

Faithfulness

    I'm currently working through Beth Moore's Breaking Free Bible study. This is the third time I'm doing this study; I'm only beginning week 2 of 10 and I am already amazed at what fresh things about captivity and freedom God is showing me in His word.

    Week 2 is all about the benefits God has extended to His children. Beth discusses how if you're missing one of these benefits in your life then it may be a helpful indicator you're in captivity or on the road to being held captive. Isaiah 43:10 says "You are my witnesses", declares the Lord, "and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after Me."

    One of the exercises she had us do what to think about situations that positively and negatively affected our faith. As I was thinking about these experiences and writing them, I realized how I needed to start deliberately recording God's faithfulness in mine and my family's lives. No matter how many or few years you have walked with the Lord, there are times when unbelief or doubt creeps in. The last half of 2011 was extremely hard for me. Looking back I can see how instead of trusting God, I was questioning why. I think it would have been easier for me to let go of my struggles if I would have been consistently searching His Word for examples of His faithfulness and reflecting on His faithfulness in my own life-not only in the "big" things, but in the "small" things as well.

    I feel like God is calling me to start a faithfulness journal to record answers to prayers and even encouraging things He leads other people to do for our family. His faithfulness was shown to me just as much as when LeighAnn wrote me a card and brought me a piece of chocolate cake as much as when He answered our prayers for healing at Logan and Lucas' birth as much as the Word of hope He spoke to us through Joel's sermon the Sunday morning before Logan's traumatic birth as much as Miss Mikki writing on Facebook to check on her boys.  A big part of growing our belief and trust in Him is knowing Him and remembering His faithfulness in the past. Maybe one day this faithfulness journal will become a family heirloom passed down as a testimony to future generations.