Hallelujah

I will tell you; life ain't easy. Lydia and I aren't wealthy in the traditionally understood ways. But God has been good to us and we are blessed in many ways.

Lydia and I got our largest tax refund ever this year. I have been sooo excited since i submitted my taxes. You guys know i love gadgets and tech toys, so I have been checking out the new HDTV's and had the fever for one really bad. I had even gone so far as to shop around and find the one I wanted. I was so ready to plunk down the money just as soon as we got our refund. Were going to try to pay some bills too, but really the new TV was coming first.

If your like us then there is a pile of bills that need to be paid all the time. Hospitals, Credit Cards, Schools Loans, Doctors appointments, magazine subscriptions, etc. Recently we have fallen behind on some of our bills, and we have been dodging the annoying bill collecter phone calls. We borrowed money from some family when we bought our new car a year ago, and have had trouble keeping up the payments.

When I awoke friday morning I felt horrible. Not sick...under conviction. If you have experienced this then you know exactly the feeling I'm talking about. As I lay there in bed the Lord began to speak to me. The Lord reminded me of how he had blessed and provided for us over the years. As He spoke to me, I knew that buying a new TV wouldn't be right, and definitely wouldn't be showing good stewardship. So I made up my mind that I would use whatever we got back from the IRS to pay down our debts, but only after we gave 10% to the church. Suddenly I had a real peace about the whole matter.

I got up out of bed and went into the living room where Lydia was feeding Cohen. I told her what had happend and she agreed. I went into our home office to check my online banking and low and behold our refund had been deposited. Our bank balance never looked like that before.

So after a few days our tithe has been given, all our bills are paid up, We are gonna pay our family loan back in a few days, and the only debt we will have is my Student Loans which we have been paying on monthly. Amazingly when I talked to some of our creditors, they were willing to settle for less in order to settle the accounts.

Lydia and I have never really been this debt free. God has continued to show his faithfulness to us in leading, guiding, and directing our thoughts and actions. Without Him, I'm lost. I don't have an HDTV. But I feel really good. Hallelujah!!

a good daddy

tonight i was reading over some pre-cora posts.  geron made a cooment about a book he had bought while waiting on me trying on dresses in motherhood.  it was a book about dads and daughters.  looking at our family since cora has come along, i must say geron has been a very good dad to our little daughter.  i love to watch them as they have their tickle wars...to watch them cuddle up in the recliner to watch veggie tales...to see him hand her a mic and let her sing on the stage just before church begins because she wants to be like her daddy... to lead her in her bedtime prayers...those are only a few of my favorite things.  there are so many more.  thanks, geron, for being such a good daddy to our girl and now also to our precious little boy.  you are a great role model for them and i appreciate all you do for our family.

Consolidation

So I have been blogging for almost 5 years now. That's weird. I have imported my other two abandoned blog efforts At VOX and my other Blogger blog called "Why Would We Care". These imported postings are all mostly before September 2006 when Cora arrived. Take a walk down memory lane with me.

To check them out look for posts labeled WWWC or VOX.

Going Potty

I am so proud of Cora Sophia. She has been wearing panties for the past two weeks, and no, not the same pair, Annie. She's really been doing well, very few accidents. Even poopoo has been a success, that is, getting it into the potty. This morning we were on the way to work and had driven to the top of our street when Cora started crying "Go potty! Go potty!" We turned around and drove back to the house--afraid peepee might happen in the carseat and would have to take her into the day care wet. So, we get to the house, I jump out, run around and get Cora out and carry her into the house and put her on the potty. She sits there for a bit. I'm like "Come on already. You said you needed to potty. Go!" expecting peepee to happen any second. We wait, she grunts and finally lets out a little toot. "I pottied!" she exclaims. "I poo-ped in the potty!" Only a toot, though. I don't know whether to be pad or to laugh and laugh. I scowl and laugh at the same time, get her pants back up, clean her up and take her to the car and go to work.

I guess I'm just thankful that she knows when she has to go now and tells us.

"MADAGAS-AR"

***Geron's Update***

Last night I was locking the church up after choir practice and came back into the foyer where Cora was, she looks up and says, "mommy has butt...daddy has butt...Ya Ya has butt...etc

What have we unleashed?

**********************

We took Cora to her very first movie this past weekend, Madagascar 2.  She did pretty well for a two-year-old.  Every now and then she'd say something rather loudly, especially when she wanted more "canny", but for the most part she was good.  She loved having a large tub of popcorn to herself...we were all eating it, but let her hold it in front of her.  Overall, she really enjoyed the movie.

So, last night we skyped my parents and Cora began talking about the film.  Granny wanted Cora to tell her what kinds of animals were in the movie.  They took turns naming some until they got to the hippo.  Cora said "Hippo had a butt."  (It did, and it looked like a real behind.)  She added "Hippo had a BID butt."  And at that point she began "Mommy have a butt.  Mommy have a BID butt.  Daddy have a BID butt", etc, etc, etc.  WHERE she got the idea to start that line of conversation, I haven't the slightest, but we quickly changed the subject and moved on.  

I think I'm going to have to preview her movies in the future.  I was expecting my little singing and dancing wonder to come home rocking to "I Like to move it move it", not reminding me that my rear is the size of a hippo's.

Away in how many mangers?

Christmas is special no matter how you celebrate it, but adding a toddler to the mix adds an extra Ho!Ho!Ho! to it all.  Cora Sophia has certainly kept us in stitches this Christmas.  Here are some random moments we’ve enjoyed…

 

Nativity devotional…every night before bed we’ve been reading a story about the different characters who played a significant role in the first Christmas.  Cora learned quite a bit about the angel, shepherds, wise men, baby Jesus, Mary, and “Jo-sah”.  In an attempt to get Cora to say Jo-seph she replied “Jo-sephia Brown!!!”  

 

Christmas programs…In her day care program, Cora’s class was singing Jingle Bells and Angels Watching Over Me.  For a little girl who loves to sing all the time and in tune, we were quite surprised when her class took the stage with bells in hand and all she did was keep her mouth shut until the end of the song when she decided to whop her neighbor upside the head with her bell(yes, it was on purpose.)…Her church Christmas program went a little smoother.  We practiced and practiced Away in a Manger and cora was quite good at it.  The morning of the program, she walked on stage in her angel costume and stood quietly, waiting to start the song.  She studied the audience and spotted the pastor’s wife. “HI  KERI!” she yelled and waved.  She continued eyeing the congregation and her eyes caught on the sound booth in the balcony “Hi Daddy!  HI DADDY!”  Then the piano began the intro to their song.  Cora pointed in the direction of the piano and told the teen behind her “It’s Away in a manger!”  The toddlers began singing, all except Cora.  She looked around and then began “Away in a manger…”  looked around some more as the other children continued singing, and then started again “Away in a manger”….giggling ensued from those seated and Cora recognized her audience.  Three more times she started the song until the wee choir stopped singing.  The program was a success, even if Jesus slept in five different mangers.

 

Read My Bible Daddy…I wish I’d been present for this moment…the evening of my star performance as one of the supremes, Geron and Cora had a daddy daughter date.  They went out for Tahtoes(tacos) and played at home.  At bedtime Cora asked Geron for her Bible.  He handed it to her, she opened it and questioned Geron “Read me my Bible, Daddy”, handing it to him, opened.  Geron looked down, and saw she’d opened to Luke 2, the Christmas story.  Of course he read it to her!

 

As for presents, Cora has had PLENTY to open and has opened Cohen’s, too.  She’d been dying to open the gifts sitting under our tree and I discovered that she had torn into one.  I reprimanded her for it and she left the gifts alone after that.  The night we went over to some friends’ house for dinner, they gave Cora a present.  “Thant you, Amanda! Thant you!” she delighted as she hugged the gift Amanda had just handed her.  Geron leaned down and said “Sweetheart, you can open that.”  Expecting chaos, I watched as tiny scrap after scrap was torn away from the wrapped package.  And I began kicking myself for being a stickler for wrapping paper instead of bags.  Next year, next year.

 

Having a little one at Christmas certainly adds much cheer to every gathering.  Watching them race through the house chasing the bigger kids and sticking their tiny finger in the icing on the cake at the edge of the dessert table every time they pass by, to exclaiming “It’s Strobbycake!!!”at the site of their new Strawberry Shortcake coloring book, to baking cookies for santa claus and trying to sneak an extra cookie off the tray , to “Read me my Bible, Daddy”, Christmas is extra special when you celebrate it with a child. 

 

Merry Christmas