Chloe's Way With Words....

I absolutely love talking to my daughter these days. She is saying/has said, the cutest things. I've written down most in her baby book, but wanted to share some...Some are current, some are not

Frosty Returns (the movie) = Frosty take turns ~She actually says it right now :(
Computer = Compuyer
Bottom = Ba yum
First = Firsh
Part = Park
(Ben and I use Chloe's version of words in our vocabulary when we are talking to each other...)

Chloe's signature quote..."I will miss you tomorrow". She always tells her Nana & Mimi this on days she is with them.
Margaret actually told Ben she and Larry use her signature quote often to each other. I remember Hannah and Lauren calling covers~cubbers, we STILL say cubbers.

What will I do when she starts pronouncing everything right? I know, Ben and I will still use her version so I'll never forget....

Yesterday...

It's true, I love to reminisce....

This is one of the first moments Ben held Chloe, it's my favorite picture....I wouldn't take a million dollars for it!





Ben and I in Tian'an Men Square..it was completely AWESOME




us at the Great Wall



Chloe meeting her sisters for the first time at the airport....

I can't believe how time has flown! It seems just like yesterday...

"For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him."

1 Samuel 1:27

Random Acts of Sweetness

I was just blown away at my precious 4 year old. Ok, it doesn't take much for me to think she's wonderful....but this is really sweet! We had just gotten in the car to drive Hannah and Lauren back to their mom's. The car was unusually quiet. It's often mass chaos in our car going places. Everyone seems to be talking at once, but today for some reason it was so quiet. OUT OF THE BLUE, I hear my little precious 4 year old tell Lauren, "I love you". I looked in my rear view mirror because I was kinda shocked and really not sure who had said it, Lauren or Chloe. As I looked in the mirror, I saw Chloe looking at Lauren and Lauren looking at Chloe, then I heard Lauren say, "I love you too." It brings tears to my eyes. It was such a random thing...Like out of nowhere. What a precious thing...I'm glad I was there.



First gymnastics injury....

Yesterday we had our first gymnastics injury. Chloe was running on the floor at gymnastics practice and lost her footing. She slipped and fell and scraped her little nose across the floor. She cried and her daddy went down to check on her. He hugged her and she was fine. She's a tuff cookie! Below is the picture of her injury, complete with cookie crumbs on the lips!

Do you want to be free?

I had an incredible time this morning in my bible. Ben always brings Chloe to our bed when he leaves for work. I enjoy this time, she's usually still asleep and I can get some good reading time in. Our Associate Pastor has challenged our church to read through the bible in a year. Of course I'm always up for a good challenge and have never read all the way through it so I thought, I SHOULD do this! I would love to say I've read every word. It's been wonderful! I'm in Numbers and Mark. I'm supposed to read old testament in the morning and new testament in the evening but I always end up reading it at one time. I have recently been loving my Casting Crowns Cd also. I love the song Set Me Free and have never really listened to the lyrics. When I opened my Cd case yesterday I read what that song was about. It's so powerful. The song follows the account of the man with demons...that is...until he meets Jesus!
My reading in Mark this morning was that story! Mark 5:13
God's timing is so perfect! It was just strange/perfect how I just read about that song last night then that was my reading for today.

I've just got to post the lyrics....

"It hasn't always been this way / I remember brighter days / Before the dark ones came / Stole my mind / Wrapped my soul in chains

Now I live among the dead / Fighting voices in my head / Hoping someone hears me crying in the night / And carries me away

Set me free of the chains holding me / Is anybody out there hearing me? / Set me free

Morning breaks another day / Finds me crying in the rain / All alone with my demons I am / Who is this man that comes my way? / The dark ones shriek / They scream His name / Is this the One they say will set the captives free? / Jesus, rescue me

As the God man passes by / He looks straight through my eyes / And darkness cannot hide

Do you want to be free? / Lift your chains / I hold the key / All power on Heav'n and Earth belong to me

You are free / You are free / You are free"

The man with demons was a desperate man, the scripture says...

"When he saw Jesus from afar, he RAN and worshiped Him." Mark 5:6

"For He said to him, Come out of the man, unclean spirit!" Mark 5:8



I'm so thankful for this gift of being "Free"....


Wow, I'm in a deep kinda mood.....

The song Set Me Free is below in my playlist if you want to listen....

Heaven

We had a great, in depth talk tonight on the way home from church. I can't even remember how the conversation got started. I would give anything to have had a recorder in the car so I could forever remember this converstation with my daughter. I was telling Chloe that Jesus lives inside of us. We ask him to come live inside of us and he does! She was listening intently and I could tell she was interested. I told her one day when she's old enough, she can ask Jesus into her heart too! I told her if you do, you will live in heaven for eternity. She got a little worried and started asking all kinds of questions. "Would Santa Clause be in heaven?", "Did Daddy ask Jesus into his heart?", "Will we take our van?", she was holding back tears to ask..."What if i forget my vest?"(her cubbie vest)...I realized, however selfish it may sound, that my number one priority on this earth is to see this sweet little innocent girl become a child of God. I love her so much! I explained the best I could to her about heaven and decided I need to study more myself about this wonderful place we will spend eternity.

The Crayola Marker of a Good Man

Last night Ben and I watched the movie Fireproof. We rented it and after watching it decided we want to own it ourselves! Chloe was so good during the movie. Of course it took us about three hours to get through the entire movie because she would make her way into the den and want to chit-chat, so we would hit the pause button and do a little chit-chat with her, then restart the movie. She kept coming in wanting to do "homework". Ben promised her when the movie was over he would help her do "homework". This child LOVES anything to do with learning! Anyway, after the movie, it was Chloe's "turn". Ben got down in the floor and they did some work out of her "homework" book. After they had finished, Chloe was feeling artistic and needed to "create" something. Ben had the great idea of letting Chloe draw a picture on his belly. She was so excited! It's something he's let all three of his children do. It's kind of funny.

The work in progress....

She said this is (from left to right) her daddy, herself and me at the airport coming home from China....The finished canvas....

He's the best father I know.....

The Ant and the Grasshopper

A couple of nights ago, my best friend (my husband) was reading, as he often does, right before bedtime. He said "sit down, I want to read you something". I thought, oh no...I'm in trouble about something....He starts reading from his book...

"The Ant and the Grasshopper gives us a splendid analogy for viewing the reciprocal relationship of SJ to SP. In the fable, the Ant is industriously and dutifully transporting large crumbs of bread from the site to storage while the Grasshopper reclines on a blade of grass near Ant's path, playing the fiddle, chewing tobacco, and singing "The world owes me a living." Ant, without losing stride in his burdensome work, scolds Grasshopper for not preparing for the upcoming winter months. "Join me," urges Ant, "and we will together fill the storehouse, thus ensuring that none will suffer cold or hunger." Grasshopper replies, "And if you keep up this feverish pace, you won't make it to winter, succumbing to ulcer, high blood pressure, or colitis. Join me on my blade of grass, and we will enjoy together the warm summer, the food that abounds, and celebrate the world's debt to us in song." Each of course, ignores the other's request and goes on his own merry or tedious way. When it turns out to be a long, cold, hungry winter, Grasshopper must knock at Ant's door and stand there frostbitten and starving; Ant, snug in his storehouse of goodies, can only let Grasshopper in. And so it is with SJs and SPs~ They marry each other with high frequency and play out this eternal drama."


He said, "who does that sound like?" We both agreed and had a great laugh. He's obviously the Ant and I'm obviously the Grasshopper. We could both imagine me standing at his door, knocking to come in, "I'm cold, I'm hungry"..."Let me in" And of course he would let me in!
That's why I love him!

Pre-Team & Braces

More exciting news this week, Chloe has been asked to join the Pre-team class at the gymnastics center. It's by coach invitation only...so it's pretty exciting! She is really so good, her back bend blows my mind! I'm sure she gets her flexibilty from her daddy! Ha! She will now practice two days a week for one hour instead of just one day. The pre-team class is designed to prepare her to be on the gymnastics competition team! I think she's the youngest one in there. Her daddy and I are so very proud of her!

Also very exciting, Lauren got her braces last week. She is doing great and we think she's absolutely gorgeous in them. She was a little uncomfortable for a couple of days but she's been a real trooper!

This has been a really exciting week in our Household! Little Miss Chloe has earned the prestigious honor of owning a Cubbie Vest! Last week in AWANA's she was given the challenge to learn two bible verses in a week. We came home and she was eager to start that night! We worked on the two verses all week, they were "All have sinned." Romans 3:23 and "While we were sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8. I couldn't wait for Wednesday night to roll around to see if she would get her vest. Of course I knew she could do it, I just wasn't sure she would say the verses to her teachers. We practiced on the way to church that night and I knew she knew them.

I would give anything to bottle the moment of picking her up that night from Cubbie's class....As I was coming down the hall, I could see her standing in the doorway proudly wearing that cubbie vest! She was so proud of herself and of course I had, what I'm sure was, the biggest grin. We called everyone we knew on the phone that night on the way home! I've never seen her so excited! I hope God was smiling too, I'm sure He was....