5 more days

There's only five days left of Griffin being under one year old. Just five little days. I have been anticipating his birthday, well I guess since he was born actually. Is that normal? I have always thought about the future with Griffin. What will he be like when he can sit up? crawl? talk more? walk? when's he's 1? 2? 3? and so on.... It's just so exciting having this little person right before you growing and learning and not yet being who he will be someday. It's like having something to look forward to for the rest of your life. What will my baby do next? I am thankful that Griffin is here. If you're sad, you can look at his picture and it will make you glad. I can just think about him and it cheers me up, if I need some cheering up.
So Sunday he will be one. Saturday is his party. I cannot wait to celebrate his 1st year of life! I will be celebrating before then, I will be celebrating all week. I guess I will celebrate more than just his bdays, as moms I think we celebrate our babies lives everyday.

Ordained

Tyler's ordination was tonight. It was such a sweet ceremony and so many people came. We were so thankful and humbled. Tyler's parents came and his brother, Mitch and his gf Kaylie. We are so thankful for so many people's love, support, and encouragement.
I have never been more proud to be his wife. I am so proud of him and pray God continues to use him for His great glory and Tyler's great joy.

New Gay Character

I remember when I was a kid and I had a few Archie comics. I didn't really get into it... I was more of a Spiderman fan. Nonetheless, today I read in the news that Archie is introducing its first "gay character". Even children's comic books are pushing their worldview. Here's the article if you want to take a look:

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Die-Hard-Archie-Fans-Grapple-with-New-Gay-Character-3350

A few thoughts:

1. Our kids are being evangelized by the world.

2. Who is going to disciple our children? Us (parents) or the world?

3. As Griffin gets older, I'm going to have to stay on top of things - the content and the media that he is allowed to view. Even if it's a children's comic book! Nothing is safe anymore.

-Tyler

Standing in my bed

Walked in to get Griffin after he woke up from a nap yesterday and this is what I found. I have been waiting for that moment-the time when he would be standing, peering over the edge of his bed looking for me, waiting for me to walk through the door to pick him up.
He loves his mobile, always has, therefore he was super excited that now he can stand up and reach it to swing his hands at it and grab it.

stuffing my face

Griffin loves to stuff his face. I mean really stuff it, and somehow he doesn't choke.

Griffin walking

Sorry about the sound. My friend, Amy, took this Tues night on her phone. This was the first time Griffin has walked all by himself. Thanks Amy! And I hope you all enjoy seeing him do it as much as we did. It was better than watching anything in the whole wide world!

An extraordinary day

Have you ever had a day where at the end of it, you think to yourself, "Man, today was awesome! Thank You, Lord for this day you gave me!" Not that every day isn't a good day and that I am not thankful for every day, but sometimes there are days that just have that extra punch.
Today started off with Griffin sleeping till 9:00. That was niiiiiiice.........
Then I decided to text my sweet friend Ali to see what she was up to. She was babysitting a 4 yr old named Bodie and invited me and Griffin over to play. Griffin loved Bodie! He tried to keep up with him and explored Bodie's toys he had. Bodie was so sweet with Griffin too. Bodie would lay down on the floor and Griffin would crawl over to him, lay his head down on Bodie's tummy and just squeeze him. I have found that Griffin likes to give hugs to other kids. I guess that's the only way he knows how to show them he likes them and wants to be their friend.
We came home and Griffin took a 3 hour nap! He was worn out from such a fun a morning.
We ate lunch and then headed to Walmart. Something so funny happened at Walmart. I was walking down the ice cream aisle and there was this girl with a baby and a probably 3 yr old boy. Well this little boy was busy looking at all the ice cream and didn't notice that he started tagging along with me and Griffin, thinking I was his mom. He was walking right alongside of me when I noticed finally and stopped and looked down at him. He looked up at me with a look that said, "Wait, you're not my mom!" and turned around as quick as he could and ran back to his real mom. It was so funny! I turned around and told the mother that he thought I was her and she just laughed and apologized. So after that I was able to invite her to MOPS. God gave me the boldness to talk to her and I am thankful I got to invite her to MOPS, cause I just love MOPS. I hope she comes tomorrow.
After Walmart I decided it was time to go run. It is easy to run actually with the stroller we have. So that's what I did. As I was walking back towards my car, I ran into Wayne Burch who was pulling into his driveway. Wayne was our realtor when we bought our house and him and his wife, Wanda, are members of our church. Well he invited me and Griffin in to see Wanda and Griffin just loved playing with them. It was just so sweet to get to visit them and watch them enjoy Griffin. They have a great grand baby girl coming in June and I think Griffin got them extra excited to have a baby around again. Anyways, it was a sweet blessing to see them.
Now Griffin is napping again and I am about to start dinner.
Thank You, Lord for today and for letting us visit so many people, they ministered to me. I hope Griffin and I ministered to them.

Aliens?

We just got back from Roswell, NM where Tyler preached at a D-NOW all weekend. It was quite an adventure. We have never been to Roswell, just passed through one time. It is a very interesting place. The McDonald's is literally a space ship! And every business, besides Starbucks has some kind of alien decor on the outside of it. They have an alien history museum, which we would have liked to go to but didn't have time. Next time we will. I just knew we would be abducted by aliens before we could leave town! Jk. We really did find it a charming place and loved First Baptist church there. Everyone was so friendly and kind and Griffin, surprisingly, did very well in their nursery. It was the first time he has ever stayed in a place with people he wasn't used to. Our nursery at Central is the only nursery he's ever stayed in. It was so funny, and a little heartbreaking. He didn't have a care in the world that I left him. He was ready to play! Like he was saying " See ya later Mom! I won't miss you!" I was so eager to pick him up after the service, I rushed back there and the kind lady handed him to me as she explained that he was happy the whole time and even took a nap for an hour! I was shocked, but very proud of him. I guess I will always miss him more than he misses me.

Thank you Roswell for the nice stay. We hope to return again soon!

Waterless swimming

This weekend, Tyler and I tried to do some yard work, so I took Griffin outside with us and placed him in his swimming pool with some toys to play while we worked. I thought he might try to get out of it so he could crawl around, but he didn't. He sat right there and played like a good boy. He enjoys being outside in the sunshine. So Griffin has swam waterless.
I am eager to fill his pool up with water soon and hope it will be nice enough at his birthday party to have out for the kids to swim.

my first haircut

after the cut today- off of my ears
after the cut- ah...this is nice...all even, well sort of....
Before the cut-in my eyes

I cut Griffin's hair. It started with trimming his bangs. I was tired of swooshing them over to the side out of his eyes. Then today I trimmed around his ears and the back. I did the best I could. I think it looks ok. I guess I just felt it was time. It was SO long covering his ears, that after I cut it, I was like, "Hmmmm..I have never noticed his ears look like that." Because you could hardly see his little ears with all the hair covering them up!
Someone told me that after you give a baby his first haircut that they look like more like a little boy, instead of a baby anymore. This seems true. Griffin is growing into a little boy.

Bovina

I took Griffin to Bovina, TX this morning to see all my old friends and students there at the elementary school. We had such a great time visiting everyone. After we made our rounds I took him out on the the play ground where all my students from last year were having recess. Before I could even get through the gate they were all running up to us staring at Griffin, saying, "He's so cute!", touching his hair, and pinching his chubby cheeks. It was the sweetest thing ever! One girl asked if she could hold him so I thought why not? But if you've ever been around 9 yrs old if one gets to do something they all want to. So here is Griffin being passed from one little kid to the next all the while being surrounded by others. You would have thought he was Hannah Montana or something. :) One of my boys that I taught last year looked at Griffin and said, "Mrs. Hicks, he needs a haircut." I was like, hmmmm yes I know.... it was funny. One sweet girl looked at Griffin and said, "I remember when you were inside Mrs. Hicks tummy last year." I miss those kids. I was glad that they enjoyed seeing Griffin. He sure loved watching them play basketball and looking at all of them.
It was a nice drive out there too. It was nice to just get out of town for a few hours. On the drive my mind went down memory lane, remembering getting up at the crack of dawn to get to Bovina and all my carpools I had with different teachers. I remember feeling exhausted at the end some days and falling asleep on the drive home. I remembered my kids doing so well on the TAKS test and being so proud of them. I am thankful for those two yrs. in Bovina.
I hope to take Griffin back more often. :)

Baby Liam

We wanted to congratulate our dear, sweet friends, Will & Alyssa Laing, on the arrival of their first baby, a boy, William, Liam for short. He was born early this morning around 4 am. He came 6 weeks early so he weighs 4.2 lbs. Please say a prayer or be in prayer for little Liam and Will and Alyssa. Liam has to stay in the hospital for a few weeks since he is premature, but he is doing well. God is so good and gracious!
I wanted to do a special shout out to Alyssa who is my hero of the day! She delivered Liam all-natural, no pain meds!! She is one tough Momma! I am so proud of her! Way to go, girl!
So we are praising God for bringing this new, sweet fella into the world!

Wanting to walk

On a lighter note, Griffin is wanting to walk so, so bad! Here's him trying to stand up. He tries to stand up a lot. And here are my two favorite people in the world together. Griffin LOVES his dad. :)

Better than life

People die. This may sound morbid, but they do. Everyone will. It is sad, but we do. I will someday, only God knows when and how. Most people do not think about death very much. Who wants to think about death, especially their own? We are forced to think about it, though, when someone dies that we know or are close to.
Mothers are taken from their children and husbands sometimes.
I think it may be the worst losing mothers to babies and children. Most of them all they wanted was to have children in the first place and spend their lives loving them, nurturing them, and taking care of them.
But it may be the worst of worst losing a baby or child. We take a risk when we have babies. We want then so badly, yet know deep down the possibilities surrounding them of hurt, failures, and even death. We would rather have them and love them for a little while than have never had them to love at all.
I know of a mother who lost her first baby and then bore another one only to be taken, herself, by the Lord 3 months later.
I do not understand, but I do understand that God is good and that does not change. We live in a fallen world where terrible, tragic things happen. God wants us to praise Him through the storms of life. Please pray for this husband who has lost his wife and the mother of his baby girl. Pray that God will lift up his head and he can say one day "It is well with my soul, Lord". Pray God will hold him ever so tightly and surround him with loving people who will just be there for him. Please pray for that baby girl. Thank you.

God has shown me this week that being with Him will be far more better and pleasurable than being here with my family. It is the best thing in the world to be with Tyler and Griffin! I cannot imagine how it will be to worship my Savior forever and ever and be with Him. How amazing it will be!

"To live is Christ, and to die is gain." Phil 1:21
"For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in." Ps. 27:10

Rockin

God is sovereign. He is gracious. He blesses me even though I am prone to wander. For this I am extremely thankful. Sometimes He causes Griffin to wake up around 10:30 pm crying a little and I go in his room, pick him up, and just rock him for awhile. This ministers to my soul, as Tyler pointed out to me after I came back in the living room after rocking him. See Griffin is very mobile now. He does not sit still unless he has a bottle in his mouth and even then he's fidgety. So getting to rock him as he nestles up against me and goes back to sleep is like gold. Tonight I just held him and prayed over him thanking God for him and trying to enjoy the moment, realizing he will one day not be a baby at all anymore and I won't be able to treat him like a baby. Lord willing, he will continue to grow and change and become a man. I wonder what he will be like. What will he do with his one life God has given him? It is so exciting to know that we get to watch him grow up. That God has given us this sweet boy to just enjoy and love. He is easy to love that is for a fact. So, I am thankful for rocking chairs and for moments like God gave me tonight. To brand new Mommies out there -enjoy each moment God gives you with your little ones, for they are each a special gift from above.

Easter

Griffin's first Easter...at church this morning...
Getting the egg out of the tree...
Sitting with Papa by the stream...
I like sitting here by all these cool short trees...
MeeMaw and Papa two of my favorite people in the world....
Loving being a family....it is the best gift!
Got you egg!!!
This green one is interesting....
Thanks Papa for holding the basket...
Walking with Meemaw
Walking down the hill to go hide eggs...

Before the hunt..
Father and son...after some fishing...
Paddling with the new paddles...

As you can see, there is nothing out there...
Nothing except their cute, cozy house on top of the hill....

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend. We surely did. We headed to Snyder, TX Thursday morning and just got home last night. We had the best time spending time with Tyler's parents and being outdoors and away from the bustling town of Clovis (we love Clovis though). Griffin got to do his first Easter egg hunt out by the pond. It was windy but bearable and he had a blast picking up eggs and grass along the way. Thanks Steve and Peggy for such a great weekend with you guys!
Dear Papa & MeeMaw,
I liked hunting for the eggs y'all hid for me. I liked playing with you and sitting outside with you in the sunshine. I liked waking up and y'all being there. Thank you for feeding me my bottle and talking to me too. I love y'all very, very much and remember my bday party is May 1st. Please don't forget to come so I can see y'all again.
Love, Griffin