Unconditional love pt. 2

I wanted to share a couple things that I love about Ian:) He really cares about his students. So much so that he is willing to share the truth with them. They talk a lot about dating. Mostly because that's on most middle schoolers minds a lot (if not most people's minds), but also because they know how he feels about dating before you're ready for marriage. He's not for it.

Anyway, they always try to come up with reasons why you should date. Most are pretty funny. For example: to learn what you like and don't like in a person of the opposite sex. Our immediate thought is, 'Do you really need to date people in order to see what you like in people???' I mean I can tell you what you will want in a spouse and I don't have to date people to figure it out: real love, honesty, commitment, good communication skills, open communication, the same beliefs morally and spiritually, etc. Come on kids. Although I'm a little harsh, I thought Ian's response was a good one. He asked the kids what they were practicing by dating a bunch of different people. They were silent. He said, "You are practicing divorce. You are getting into the habit of ditching someone when you find something annoying or undesirable about them." This makes so much sense. You get good at what you practice!

Some of his students really begin to appreciate Ian sharing with them. I know he has an impact on their lives. And I know he shares in a way that makes kids feel they can talk to him because a lot of them have. He comes home with stories about kids who are just broken in two because of heartbreak and they can see how the road their on is leading no where. Granted, they are 14 and will get over it rather quickly, but it's still real to them. And I love how Ian validates them. God does the same for us. Psalm 33:17 says, "He made their hearts,so he understands everything they do." We have a God who understands us.

Finally, the other day Ian told his students that even if someone offered him a billion dollars he wouldn't divorce me:) I hope the guys in his class are paying attention and can become men like him someday.

unconditional love

Since having Mary, God has taught me a lot about the way he loves us. It's easy for me to learn this way because I have her right here in front of me. Some days it takes a lot of effort to choose to keep on loving her. It takes a lot of effort to speak gently and kindly to her, although firmly sometimes:) But it's worth it. Why? Because I hope that she will see God's love through me. And that is the way God loves us. Through his choices. He chose to reveal his love to us through Jesus even though it was painful. Even though he probably wasn't in the mood to see his son go through what he had to do. I say that because I am rarely in the mood to see Mary in pain. Only when she's being really whiny;) But even then I have to remind myself that she was given to me as a gift. Thankfully God has really given me that heart for her: to see her as a gift even when she is not acting the way I would have her act. I wouldn't change a thing about her. And that is exactly how God feels about us. He loves us for who we are and not for who he wishes we would be. He is patient with us while he teaches us.

Jeremiah 31:3 says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness," and Romans 2:4 says "Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?" This is who God is. I'm so glad that I have a God who is patient and kind toward me. I want to be this way to my kids.

Sound the bells

The potty bells:)We've been putting Mary on the potty for about 2 weeks now. We got the advice from a friend (and from Baby Whisperer) to start putting kids on the potty at an early age so they get used to sitting on it. And they eventually will go on it through sheer probability. Then you really hype it up when they go in the potty. So I thought why not give it a try. I wanted to go with a pretty laid back approach anyway since baby #2 is going to be here in 2 months. Plus, I've seen kids get pretty anti-potty as they get older. Well yesterday was Mary's first time hitting the mark. I was so excited I think I scared her. I'm not always the most patient person when I don't see results (it's not a virtue, I'm just being honest), so I was thinking of calling it quits. But I think we'll continue putting her on a few times a day and see how it goes.

The world of words

In the past month or so Mary has had a language explosion. Don't get too excited. Compared to her vocabulary before it doesn't take much to make an explosion:) She just repeats everything we say now whereas before she couldn't care less. My favorite is that our friend Jacob was teaching her where her knee was yesterday. He kept saying knee and pointing to her knee, and she kept responding by pointing to her knee and saying, "me." We tried to enunciate but it's just really cute to see her say it like that. And she does it over and over again. She's getting pretty good at the body parts, now we need to start working on letters!

In totally unrelated news I'm starting to feel big. There has come a point in each pregnancy when things just start to feel crowded and I can't really breath properly or eat large quantities. This is particularly a problem in the eating department because I love to eat large quantities of food! But I'm learning to eat smaller meals so that I don't feel like I'm going to puke after each meal. At least I haven't had heartburn! I feel bad for people who get that because heartburn feels like Satan is drilling a hole into your chest. Oh, and I'm 30 weeks today!

Videos from the weekend

I remembered my video camera this time! In this first video my cousin Val thought it would be funny to tease Mary with her food...and it was:

Mary is generally a pretty laid back kid, but sometimes she goes into what we call "hyper mode." Here is a video of her latest episode of hyper-Mary. The best part is at the end when she starts kicking her legs like crazy and almost kicks herself in the face:

Norris Lake Family Visit

Mary and I spent the weekend in Norris Lake visiting family! It was a great time of relaxation and catching up. We spent most of the time at the little house we rented or at the park that was really close by. These first few pictures are when the girls decided to run around. We walked outside and Cara said, "Let's go run!" And she was so excited. It's nice when running around a yard can be entertainment for half an hour. Although Grandma Julie/Juliemybestfriend was getting pretty tired and asked the other grown ups if we wanted to switch. No one offered to be chased around by 3 kids. Can you believe it???



Mary joined in the running fun and found a flower too!

Cali found a caterpillar while we were outside running. She put it in Mary's hand and the second it started to move Mary chucked it down the stairs. It was pretty funny:)

The girls also thought it would be fun to throw rocks into the lake. Val (the 29 year old) thought it would be fun to see how far she could throw a rock and hit the neighbors all metal dock.



And here are some pictures from the park. We all had a great time!





Me and baby #2 and 29 weeks!

What we've been up to

With Ian coaching tennis that has left a lot of time for me and Mary to fill. So one day I tried letting her watch a baby Einstein DVD. She sat like this for about 5 minutes:

And then she cuddled with me...which makes me want to do this more often!

We've also been playing outside a lot:

And Mary likes to help clean:

And she climbed up into the kid chair before I had a chance to clean them off. They've been outside all winter so she had some dirty pants going on.

And here is Mary eating the way her daddy does: