All things family-related. My husband and me, the children we made, the grandbebes that thrill us now. Our whole great big, loud, messy family. Love! *sigh…
Oh, my goodness, sweet-pea – I have loved you like crazy for 6 whole years now! You have gotten sweeter and more lovely each year.
You are such a wonderful big sister to Amelie Belle and Bailey Sophia! Aren’t they so blessed to have you? And you are a fun cousin to the K-kids and the Powers boys and to baby Eva – how lucky are they? And I love that you are such a wonderful daughter for your mommy and daddy and look for ways to honor them. Goodness, you are a delight!
But wow, oh wow, oh wow! You are my grandbebe, my sweet six-year-old grand-girl. You were the 5th of all the ones I will ever have and I just think you are turning into one of the most amazing little women ever born.
I love you my darling, beauty queen. I love your heart and your spirit and face and those eyes. You have my heart forever.
Now I bless you ~
May you continue to grow in the grace and admonition of the Lord. May the source of your life always be Jesus, for He is your righteousness, your sanctification, and your redeemer. May you always walk in the freedom that comes from knowing Him and be full of the joy He has promised for you. And remember – His presence is where you will always find the fullness of that joy! Stay blameless and innocent no matter what the rest of your generation does, Averi Jadyn, because you were born to shine as a light in this world. So sparkle and shine, sweet girl, for Jesus all the days of your blessed, beautiful, whole and holy life! I bless you in Jesus’ Name! And I seal it with a kiss. :)
Kiss*-Kiss*, Birthday Girl! {Love, Nonna!}
NOTE: Averi had a Disney’s FROZEN party, in case you couldn’t tell. Her mommy posted a bunch more pictures and ideas on her blog, if you’d like to take a look. {CLICK HERE}
The beautiful firstborn, Tara, and her handsome husband, Dave, will be doing a concert for lovers far and wide on February 12, 2014 at The Madcap Theater in Westminster (near The Promenade).
Skip the crazy crowds on the 14th and get your love fix on the 12th. TICKETS HERE
They’re good. They’re really good (and fun and cute) and I am not just saying that because they are, you know, my loveable kiddos. I have requested my fav love songs…let’s see if I wield any true power, haha.
Here is a late night vid they recorded in their music room a few years back {at the momma’s request}.
Poor little guy. Thirty or so of us suddenly plopped him into his high chair, put a 6 1/2″ high 6-layer colorful cake (purple-blue-green-yellow-orange-red) in front of him and yelled, “Eat, Malakai, eat cake!” He could not have been more perplexed. Cameras were flashing, people were clapping and laughing and the cake just sat there.
His mommy tried to help him by placing his hand in the icing and he became immediately suspicious of the whole thing. She put a little icing in his mouth and he did not like it. Not at all! He has never had sugar like that, always eaten healthy. So we were surprised. We thought maybe if we cut into the cake and he saw all the pretty colors, he’d give it a try.
Nope.
Then the worst: Tara put a little taste of cake in his mouth and he gagged. He gagged. Then he got so mad, he cried.
He will either (1) grow up to love cake more than anyone else in the world ever has and these pictures will be a hilarious in retrospect, or (2) eschew cake his lifelong, always eat healthy and probably be all the better for it!
Nonetheless, Malakai came as a fulfillment of the sweet promises of God. And like when you see a rainbow, you remember that God keeps His promises, so when we look at these pictures we’ll always remember that one year ago, in spite of all the tears and the prayer and the hopes and dreams that felt like they might never be realized, Kai was born to bring joy and joy he has brought and we are reminded: God keeps His promises. God is always faithful.
Kiss-kiss, Malakai!
Malakai’s little personal cake was baked with a 6″ pan, 6 layers (purple-blue-green-yellow-orange-red) with a cooked, whipped icing that is actually slightly less sweet because I did not want to put him in a coma. ;)
The “guest cake” was also 6 layers, same colors from the bottom up using a 10″ pan. It was way bigger than it looks!
Amelie and I decided to avail ourselves of the fabulous Storyline Online website to have a movie star read a book to us. Though I tried to steer her towards a couple that looked interesting to me, she was insistent we should “read” A Bad Case of Stripes, written and illustrated by David Shannon and read by Sean Astin.
Amelie loved the story so much she just had to watch it a second time and would have watched it again, except I talked her into doing some “striped” painting and gluing instead.
Anyway, the story is about a little girl, Camilla Cream, who loves lima beans, but she would never eat them because none of the other kids she knows likes them. Classic fear-of-man stuff. Poor Camilla is so nervous about the first day of school and being sure everyone liked her that she breaks out in stripes. Of course the kids at school tease her and when someone yells out, “Let’s see polka dots,” embarrassingly, she breaks into polka-dots.
A variety of doctors, specialists and experts try to diagnose the problem and the more “names” they put on her condition, the more ways she turns into everything and anything other than herself. Every possible “cure” only made her into something further from the little girl we started with. Finally, when an “environmental therapist” advised Camilla that to be cured she should close her eyes, breathe deeply and become one with the room, Camilla, mortified, said, “I wish you hadn’t said that!” Because that is exactly what happened. Camilla Cream slowly melted into the room. Her bed was her mouth and two pictures on the wall were her eyes and a lamp {Amelie was quite intrigued to note} was her nose.
Camilla was upset. Her parents were very upset and Amelie and I became quite worried about what could possibly happen that could help poor Camilla.
But a little plump, old lady came by with some lima beans. They weren’t magic beans or anything, just regular old lima beans. She offered some to Camilla. Camilla resisted at first saying she hated lima beans, but then she relented, because she really wanted lima beans. So, the lady tossed some in her mouth (her mattresses) and suddenly Camilla became herself. Cured!
The moral of the story…
Isn’t children’s literature a wonderful surprise sometimes? The moral of the story just unfolds before your eyes and while Amelie loved it (and I am betting will be watching it again at home — get ready Rocky and Jovan) I got something, too.
I got a great reminder that we were each created to do and to be something so incredible that God knit us specially together in the womb. He knew each of us and saw us and put us on this earth and in His story with great care and purpose.
I am so shocked at myself sometimes, surprised that even though I am very, shall we use the lovely word Tredessa has used to describe me, determined… Even though I tend towards being highly opinionated and have a strong personality (is this why my siblings call me The Godmother?), though I go at everything, Dave tells me, like a house-on-fire, somehow, I am constantly doubting my every move, wondering what people will think, de-valuing my strengths and wishing I could be more like this person in this area, or that person in the other area. And I am so doggone indecisive about my life and who I am and what I should be about. So indecisive. And I find that weird. How can I be able to tell everyone else what they should do {*smile}, but I cannot just make a decision for me?
Are you ever like that? Afraid to jump because you’re just sure it will be wrong and everything will be ruined?
I know life isn’t really ever as black and white as I wish it to be. Some things are right and some things are wrong, but there are things that just happen and experiences that don’t go our way and if they’re not actually fatal (and let’s face it, I am writing this and you are reading it so we are still alive, no matter how hard the things we’ve been through) then they are just the result of life in a fallen word and usually we did the best we could and so we trust God and go on.
But sometimes fear of failure of mistakes or what people will think or are thinking just paralyse us and no one can actually see us anymore because we look like the wallpaper. We’ve just blended into the atmosphere, having taken on the identity of the room we’re in and the people surrounding us. When really, shouldn’t we be standing out like a “sore thumb of uniqueness,” the one-and-only US made by the Creator of the Universe as the only one of our kind?
Bleh, huh?
If we could just keep in mind, that even if it doesn’t always look black or white, left or right, right or wrong – God loves us, has a plan in an exciting adventure-filled life of wholeness and holiness and then there is the enemy of our soul saying, “You can’t do that. Who do you think you are? What will people think if you try that?” Well, if we understood the differences in the voices, we’d know…
If I am called to impart the love of God, impart wisdom, impart the joy of being God’s daughter, impart the joys of home and family, the opposite is being shut down, told to be quiet, go hide, keep secrets, withhold it all. We let some one who shrugs off our life mission stop us. If I am called to impart so much good stuff and I bottle up my deep treasure – it goes bad.
If I am called to be wholehearted and impassioned and unwavering in zeal for life, for family, for the love of God, the enemy of my soul might diffuse me by pointing out how disinterested or unenthusiastic other people are for the things that light my fire. Maybe even culture tells me that what I love isn’t important in today’s climate. So, I try to get excited about something more “relevant” or important and end up unengaged, off-track, diffused.
Be you, seriously!
So, if you’re a singer, sing. Sing so loud you dispel the darkness. Sing in the night and bring on the dawn!
If you’re a preacher, preach. Let your words fall like rain and wash away injustice and sin and bring the redemptive plan to life, on earth as it is in heaven!
If you’re a teacher, teach. Expand minds and hearts and empower people to know and understand.
If you’re a baker, bake. Writers, write. If you’re a leader, lead (I feel I must mention that some one has to be following). If you’re painter (walls or canvas) paint – bring color and beauty! If you’re a sculptor, sculpt. If you are merciful and compassionate, if you are tender and caring, if your heart is to help – quit letting others tell you to get tough and get a move on. Be who you are – a rescuer, a strong shoulder, a hero, a soft place for some one to fall? If you’re bold and well-spoken, if you see the wrong and need to make it right, if you were born to expose the unfruitful works of darkness, then armor up and declare the charge!
The point: as long as you are trying to fit yourself into anyone or everyone else’s mold, you’ll have a bad case of the stripes, and really, what we all want – and what we all need is: YOU! The one and only you.
Note to self: ALL of it is a note to myself!
Please watch this or check the book out at the library! It has beautiful illustrations and is well-written. My synopsis doesn’t do it justice.
A rousing rendition of “Heads, shoulders, knees and toes” to kick off the morning.
Gathering paper and crayons and other supplies.
Counting and colors: Can you find ONE blue crayon? Now can you find 4 red crayons? Hold up one finger, now 3 fingers. Let’s count our toes.
Time to go to the counter and talk about numbers with shiny, gold stickers. Three whole worksheets and learning how to trace letters carefully. Stars all around!
Let’s get on Storyline and have some one read us a book. Now let’s do a second book. Now let’s read the first one again. Then again, again? Noooooo, Nonna puts the kibosh on a third read-through.
Nonna has BIG shoes. Amelie has SMALL shoes. We look for things big and small around the house. The reward for being such a good student is a gumball, of course. And she got PINK! What a miracle, she thinks!
Time to do a craft about the best book of the day, A Bad Case of Stripes.
Thank-you for the pancakes, Poppa. A snack for strength is always a good idea.
“Put on some music, Nonna.” We choose an old vinyl, one of Nonna’s records from way back: The Edwin Hawkins Singers*, “Come and Go with Me to My Father’s House!” And we twirl and dance and spin and laugh at ourselves.
Time to paint pretty pictures and make more stripes.
Then an educational game or two on Sprout for Kids. And mommy is already here? Where did the time go???
I am the luckiest woman alive. When Stephanie asked me to be Gavin’s pre-school teacher, so many years ago now, I wasn’t sure if I was fit for the task, but goodness sakes alive – how I LOVED it, the time with him and the adventures in learning. I have been blessed to get to do it with each one, now: Gavin, then Hunter, then Guini, then Gemma, Averi and now Amelie. We just started today, Amelie and I.
It’s actually a bit early for Amelie Belle. She is only 3 and won’t go to Kindergarten until the fall of 2015, but we start just having fun and hanging out together, anyway. We get excited over colors of things and we paint and paste and cut and create and talk and laugh and snack and dance and garden when it’s warm and mostly just have fun. Come fall, I’ll begin to structure things a bit more and take her through a good pre-k curriculum, but for now, lucky-lucky me! I’ll get Amelie-time every week for some special moments to love on her and build some memories. **Really big smile!** *Come and Go with Me to My Father’s House
Oh, MalaKai, or Kai-Kai, as we often call you – you just surprised our socks right off the day you came (early and anxious to be a Powers boy) and since then, you have tumbled sweetly, softly, with certainty straight into our hearts! You have been the recipient of 10,000 Nonna-hugs-and-kisses and looked me straight in the eyes when I’ve told you the profound truths of life – and you have believed every word.
You were born to be a Powers boy. You were born to be raised by your extraordinary mommy and remarkable daddy and have Hunter as your big (and totally wonderful) brother. AND you were born to be my grandbebe, my very own little grand-boy. How amazing is that? And you know what? I was born to be your Nonna – and I take that very seriously. And with all the joyousness and delight it brings, too!
Yep, he is 1…”Gimme that camera, Aunt Stephie!”
Baby-Kai – you were born and we have been doing the happy dance ever since!
Malakai, 3 days old
Everytime I think of you, I thank God for you – for real! And I pray that the LORD will bless you and keep you and that He will make His face shine right on you and that He’ll be gracious to you (giving you the Holy-Spirit-empowerment to be who He created you to be and to do what He created you to do) and I pray that He will lift up the favor of His countenance on you/over you and give you very full and sweet peace for all your days! That’s what I pray for you, I do!
12 drummers drumming, people! That is what you get on the 12th day of Christmas!
So this is it. We have finally come to the end of the Christmas season on the Day of Epiphany, a Christian Feast day that celebrates the revelation of God the Son who came as a human being in Jesus Christ, and of course – the observance of the Wise Men visiting Baby Jesus.
I got my Christmas cards done! Now to get them mailed to the out of towners…a whole different project!
And may I just say – getting the one perfect shot for this card…well, it never actually happened. Stormie had to “fix the stall,” and paste in a face or two from a different shot and you might notice the pot near the manger? It isn’t just crooked, it was actually falling. When everyone else looks best in the pot-falling shot, you just ignore the pot!
This is the back of the card. The Nativity in the living room…because we felt Evangeline should not actually have to be in a real barn quite yet…everyone owns a manger, yes?
Nativity-Photoshoot day was as loud as 12 drummers drumming, I can guarantee you that!
It was a wild, hilarious, very short, but intense sliver of time. My little lamb so wanted to scurry away and the littlest Wise Man was an hour past his nap time. The tiny angel’s halo didn’t fit right and the biggest Wise Man’s head gear was strapped on so tight he almost got a headache. There is the cutest shot of Guini laughing, which I thought was maybe her Uncle Rocky being funny, but Averi informed me it was when Kai tooted right in the middle of getting the pictures taken.
Inside, left of the Christmas card
And it is always so funny, because I am always hoping for this one perfect shot for the card, but honestly, when you go back later, it’s the crazy ones that make you laugh and re-live the fun moments of the day. However, for posterity I must write this here: we only used 1 camera and that is a mistake with a big group like this. We’ve usually always had 3 or 4 going and that way – something is bound to work. Must do that again from now on…for as long as these sweet-peas will let me do this.
Baby Jesus slept blissfully through it all, swaddled in a Jessica McClintock fleece and green velvet throw.
This is the inside, right
Amelie Belle told me today that she plans to be Mary next year and Averi says she wants to be a Wise Man. So, I guess it’s still on for 2014! :) Happy Nonna!
On the card, I adapted some of Howard Thurman’s words, which seem appropriate in light of the Christmas season coming to a close:
“When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The real work of Christmas begins.”
Because, Christmas = Christ Mass = Worshiping Jesus Christ. It’s never really over. So it’s time, friends and family to do the works of Jesus (Luke 4) as an act of worship: proclaim good news to the poor, recovery of sight for the blind, proclaim freedom for the prisoners, set the oppressed free and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. We have our marching orders – so much great stuff to do in His Name! Merry Christmas, bright New Year and God’s favor upon you!
Only 352 days until Christmas… :)
A bonus song with a wish for you. May you be blessed in the coming year and find Jesus to be your all in all.
“‘Til the Season Comes ‘Round Again,” by Kenny Rogers
It’s cast party day at The Rhoades Ranch. :) That means lots of chicken enchiladas and shredded pork enchiladas ready to pop into the oven, plus a party-size roaster full of my *ahem, famous Swedish Meatballs, among other things. One of those other things is “Christmas Crack,” and I just hope there is some left by the time human beings arrive because I l-o-v-e it sooooooo much!
And we have a marshmallow, snowy, fluffy, white, Christmas-y world outside! How fortuitous that I have LOTS of hot cocoa mix ready to go and a nice big rug for feet-wiping! Finally, on the 10th day of Christmas, it looks it – like Christmas!
The outside lights are going to be aglow for our guests, the cast and crew of Jesus, Mary and Joseph! (otherwise known as “10-Lords-a-Leaping”).
Christmas morning
And so, on this, the 10th Day of Christmas, let’s keep meditating on WHY Jesus came.
Even though we have packed away our Nativity sets and moved back into life at our usual speed, let’s not forget how the Word-made-Flesh came to us as a vulnerable, fully dependant baby, but with a great purpose. Understand His plan, receive it – or Christmastime is in vain. He came bringing life, and not just life, but life more abundant!
John 10.10 nkjv
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
On the 10th Day of Christmas, My True Love Gave to Me – Abundant Life!
That manger-baby grew up and powerfully counter-acted anything the thief tries to do to you or take from you. By His perfect life, His death and resurrection, Jesus negates that enemy’s power over your life. The gifts of Christmas aren’t over – they’re overwhelmingly true today and everyday! Joy to the World!
This year, for the first time ever, I got to have THREE Kings for my Nativity. I finally have 3 grand-boys who represented the Magi. I had waited a long, long time for three boys. We are rather a girl-heavy family. :) Good times.
PLUS – I actually-truly-delightfully-joyfully got THREE new grandbébés this year.
Three in one year!!! I mean – that is a wildly amazing bunch of generousness straight from heaven, I tell ya!
Now, please note, my husband took these photographs. I think he focused so much on the babies that my poor, good-looking son-in-law, Dave, was cut out. There were like 12 pics just like this and Dave is headless in every shot! Haha!
Malakai, or Kai, as we generally call him (which means rejoicing – and he has brought so much of it), was born last January, quite early and just as Christmas had been packed away and was the BEST way to start the year ever! Then, as spring broke in the Rockies, the dazzling Bailey Sophia arrived and just tripled the stunning beauty emanating from Rocky and Jovan’s little house, being their 3rd girl and all. Finally, just 9 days before Christmas, the highly anticipated Evangeline Lilly made her debut and there they all were for our Christmas: three fresh, beautiful, bright-eyed, adventurous, lovely babies – gifts under our tree to last our whole lives long. Our heritage is being increased at an astonishing rate!
Please note how GOOD all these people look (Jovan, Tredessa AND Dave) for just having had babies this year! :)
Hmmmm…
Interesting, very interesting: the 3rd of our new-babies was born 9 days before Christmas. Then, these three babies bring our total to nine grandbebes. I really did not plan all these threes and nines. I promise. I am just sitting here cracking myself up…as I hear the Twilight Zone theme song in my head. Haha. Anyhoo…
Nonetheless – here is what I want you to know on the 9th Day of Christmas ~
I really feel led to encourage you on this message:
Deuteronomy 31.6, 8 NIV “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you… The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Hebrews 13.5b NIV “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”
And finally, in case you need to hear this three times:
Isaiah 42.16 NIV “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.”
And this is what I heard for you, friends and familia and readers passing by – even if by your own decisions and actions you are in a place of chaos and despair, even if you know you’re on a rocky cliff or a wilderness of your own making, you are not abandoned! It does not matter one iota WHY you are there or HOW you got there. Just know that even though you ARE there, God has not forsaken you, not lost track of where you are. He will NEVER leave you. Because HE is faithful and HE is a God of His Word. If it were based on us, we’d all be sunk, seriously! Sunk! But He is God and He is faithful!
He is so faithful that even if we make our bed in hell, even there you can reach out and find Him…Don’t believe me? Psalm 139.7-10 “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths [Sheol-the place of the dead], you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”
WHERE could we possibly go that His faithfulness could not find us? He will never-ever-ever leave you. This is Good News, it is joy unspeakable. Are you suddenly aware? Did you just realize He has been waiting for you to notice that He has not let you out of His sights?
Be at peace, welcome His Presence. It’s going to be Ok. Let the merry continue brightly.
If you’re sick? Stay home. Get well. Make lists, lists of every kind.
Places to go
Movies to see
Movies to make of the grandbebes
Restaurants to try
Languages to learn
Books to read
Projects for the house
Blogs to write
People to have coffee with
Recipes to try
Scriptures to memorize
Pre-school ideas for Amelie Belle
And ok, yes, the obligatory get-in-better-shape schedule
So, on the 8th day, it beginning to look less and less like Christmas.
I have to hurry, because my goal is Christmas cards by Epiphany. ;) Oh, Lord, help me.
And for that matter, for real, help me!!!
I was noticing the 8 maids-a-milking on that ornament up there, but I actually only see one and she is carrying two pails. I feel like she has been abandoned by the other maids and some one else might not be carrying their part of the load. And there are times when that is actually true. There are times we are called to carry more than we think we can handle and for sure something some one else should have been carrying.
Sometimes we forget to ask for help {or are too prideful to ask – though I have never personally been guilty of that, really, ever, for sure – are you doubting me here?!}. Sometimes no one else can help us even if we do ask, no one, but Jesus, anyway.
So heading in to the New Year, let’s remember this about HIM!:
Psalm 55.22 AMP “Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you; He will never allow the [consistently] righteous to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail).”
1 Peter 5.7 AMP “Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.”
Hebrews 4.16 NKJV “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Don’t carry the heavy baggage longer and further than is needed. Turns out we have a High Priest with ready access to the God of the universe and He actually knows and understands and empathizes with what we’ve been going through. So READ THESE 5 translations of Hebrews 4, get encouraged, ask for help and lay your burdens down, fresh and light for the New Year.
Was this just like 2 1/2 weeks ago??? It was. Wow, time flies when you’re having fun!
