Sneak Peek

cousins unite!! (Griffin & Landry)
She's 1 1/2 and was counting to five. No kidding.
Having fun with Uncle Blake..
My mom and dad...
Our nephew, Haddon, was playing with my dad...
Together again...cousins, sisters, whatever we are.....
Brothers....you can def tell they are brothers in this picture...

Making a birthday cake for Jesus.....Haddon was busy eating the sprinkles, Landry was trying to, Hudson was the lead decorator, and Griffin was the lead spectator....

Well we made it back from east Texas on Monday and I have to say that Griffin may be the best little traveler there is. He did so good on the plane rides to and from and also was quite the trooper in his car seat for the most part. We had such a fantastic time visiting my family and seeing old friends. Here are some quick pics for a sneak peek on our adventure east.

It is to be determined....

This is Griffin trying to grab the camera....preventing me from taking a decent picture of him while he watches tv....
This is the Griffin glare.
Mom, I'm trying watch tv....stop making me laugh...

He was really after that toy.....
Mom, why do I have this hat on right now? I'm not going outside...
Hmmm....what is this contraption?
I think I'll try to roll it...


So these are just some random pics of Griffin lately around and about. Our sweet friends Gary & D'Ann Wiley gave Griffin a little football for Christmas and so Tyler showed it to Griffin for the first time and he loved it. Will Griffin be a football player or MMA fighter? It is to be determined.....

I got Griffin a hat, finally, to keep his ears warm. I got it on clearance at JCPenney for $4! It is so cute on him. He likes it ok. Will Griffin enjoy wearing hats like his dad? It is to be determined......

Then one afternoon Griffin and I were just hanging out on the couch and so I turned on the tv. He likes to watch tv only when there is something that is very interesting to him on there. This day there was and it was so funny watching him glare at it. Will Griffin like to watch tv later? Hopefully not...but it is to be determined....

We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas! Rememeber to count your blessings this week. My dear friend, Karen, sent us the perfect Christmas card. It says "Simply Jesus" on it and then on the inside it reads "May your Christmas be a time to reflect on the simplicity of His birth and the magnitude of His purpose." I just loved that and it reminded me to cherish my Lord and Savior this season every day. I showed it to Tyler and he commented on how Jesus' birth was simple, yet magnificent as well. Merry Christmas, again, to all and to all a good day. :)

"......Call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins." Matthew 1:21

Avatar Movie Review

Over $200 million was spent on making the movie Avatar. It just came to the theater here in Clovis. There is even a 3D option. I love movies, but I haven’t seen this one yet. But, I just read a great review of the movie from a well-respected theologian, Russell Moore. Here’s the review:

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2009/12/19/avatar-rambo-in-reverse/

If students or parents (or both) go to see this movie, I think it would be great to read this review and stir up some good family discussion or talk about it with your friends.

Teething, etc...

This week has been a different one. Griffin is so on again off again and unpredictable. He will get fussy real fast and then be totally happy the next minute. Tonight, everything was wrong. I could tell. He was so hungry at bed time, teething I'm pretty sure, and he had gas. So, he was not very happy about those things. I almost started crying because he was crying so hard. He never is like this and I am not used to him being this way, so I get upset right along with him because I just don't like him not feeling well. I gave him some gas medicine and feed him good and after that he played with Tyler for a little bit, happily, before we put him to bed.
We got through the day by the God's grace and he is now sleeping peacefully. The Lord is good.
Sometimes at the end of days like today, I feel such relief. Today was a day where I think to myself "Boy am I glad I just have one child right now". Then I saw on tv earlier today that the daughter of this couple who were murdered this summer is taking care of their nine adopted special needs children they left behind. NINE. I'll say it again, NINE. That's one more than Kate Goslin has and all nine have some kind of special needs. The Lord put this in my face for a reason today. He reminded me that He will not give me more than He will enable me to bear. I am thankful those nine children have someone to take care of them and if I were that sweet daughter I would hope I would be selfless enough to take that responsibilty on as well. She loves those kids. I pray that I will be a mother who selflessly takes care of her children, no matter how many, with great joy, because it's the occupation God has set before me, even on days, like today, where nothing is normal. Thank You Lord for sweet little Griffin. I pray he will feel better tomorrow and that even if it's the same as today that I will be the loving and tender mother you want me to be.

Guitar player, warmer weather, and play time with Ali

Wow! This is fun! Mom, can I play with Ali more often??


Daddy, are you really going to let me touch it????
OK, well then I will!




The other night Tyler decided it was time for Griffin to really experience the guitar for himself, so he let Griffin touch and play with it. Griffin loved it! It was so funny. He actually strung it once or twice! He got so excited. He loves anything new. But I think he's been wanting to get his little hands on it since the first time Tyler played for him.

Yesterday was a really nice day outside. It was about 55 or 60 degrees which may seem cold to some of you east Texans, but here in NM that is warm compared to our usual 20-40 degree weather we have in the winter. So we let Griffin sit outside for a bit and look at the our trees and the cars drive by. We also headed over to some friends for a college graduation party for our sweet friend, Lauren. I didn't get any pictures with Lauren, unfortunately, but Griffin had some play time with her sister, Ali.
Dear Ali,
Thanks for playing with me yesterday at your house. You have very pretty hair that was fun to grab and hold onto. I will play with you again sometime soon when Mommy takes me to see you.
Love, Griffin

Tortured For Christ

Tyler and I have been reading this book called "Tortured For Christ" together over the past several months. It has been so rewarding to do this together. Granted we don't always put the effort into going to bed earlier so we can read it together, and sometimes there have been weeks we have skipped altogether, but we are trying to make it a priority to do this. When we do do it, it is such a learning time and blessing from the Lord. Two things: 1) if you have never read a book with your spouse, I would recommend doing so. Even if it takes months to do, set time aside each night to read together. 2) I would recommend reading this book, "Tortured for Christ".

This book will really shake you up and open your eyes to many different things. It is about a man who, because of his faith in Christ, was imprisoned in a Romania prison for years and years and who was tortured all those years by the Communists party. They tortured him because they wanted him to denounce his faith. He never did. Read it to find out what happened to him. You can get it for FREE at this website:
http://www.torturedforchrist.com/

It has taught me a lot about Communism and the underground church in Communists nations. Believers in these countries suffer greatly and because of that have so much character, perseverance, hope, and faith in the one true, Almighty God. It is such an amazing story and has caused Tyler and I to appreciate the country we live in even more and to discuss what we can do to help these suffering believers all over the world. It has caused us to ask ourselves: would we be willing to suffer like this for the sake of the gospel? Would we give up all we have here in this materialistic culture to go to a world where you could die for just believing? We pray that God takes us wherever He will and that His perfect will will be done in our lives, whether that means suffering greatly or being comfortable and secure the rest of our lives.

Just having fun....

Took these yesterday because I just love Griffin in yellow. He had just finished breakfast and was in such a happy mood, which he usually always is anyways, but I think he is understanding now that when I have the camera in front of him that he is suppose to smile. I just love these because they capture his sweetness and happiness. I am so thankful that he is such a happy baby. He loves to smile and laugh. I pray God will use him to bring as much sunshine into other peoples lives someday as he already has into ours. He is my butterball. He is my best friend, besides Tyler of course, and I just love, love, love him!

ps. added the one of his toes because his feet are growing and he just had cute feet.