Dear Santa

Mac's letter to Santa: dear Santa thank-you for my toys last year. This year i would like a big dinosaur, stuffed animal long snake and alligator, robot transformer, bike, guitar, and whatever you want to bring me. Please bring Maggie a baby doll, jewelry, and a kitchen set. We will be at lolly and Papa's house and will have milk and cookies out for you. Love, Mac and Maggie

Trimming the tree part 1

We started decorating the tree with White Christmas on in the background and this happened.

Housekeeping

We've had some spam-like comments one posts recently so we have changed the settings to not allow anonymous comments.  This will likely only affect 1 of the 3 possible commenters here.

Random kid update

There are some interesting things that Maggie does lately. These are a few of my favorites...
She loves to blow her nose. She has actually been doing that for a long time but it's weird that she can even do it at this age. Not only does she blow her nose but she likes to use it as an excuse for trying to empty a tissue box. When we catch her getting a tissue she fakes needing to blow her nose as justification. Tonight a pediatrician friend confirmed she's exceptional. :)

One thing will always distract her no matter what...she always wants to brush her teeth. She wants nothing more than some training toothpaste and to stand on the bathroom stool brushing away. She also likes to watch herself in the mirror. The problem is that you have to wrestle the toothbrush away from her when you are ready for her to be done.

She is talking some. Mostly just when she feels like it. She will randomly say a word. For instance she said pumpkin the other day when actually pointing at a pumpkin. However she won't say mom or dad most of the time. She is clearly an independent thinker :)

And a super sweet moment we have experienced at dinner several times lately. We all sit down to eat and with no prompting Maggie reaches both hands out waiting for us to take her hands and say the blessing. Sometimes she is so sweet you just want to eat her up.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Running and bragging

Today was my second half marathon (13.1 miles).  This first was 2 years ago in Augusta.  Back then I had 3 basic goals: finish, don't walk, finish under 2 hours.  I managed 2 out of 3, finishing in 1:58:13 after having to walk a little due to cramps in my legs.

This year I was running in Athens and was very excited about the finish because we would get to do a lap around Sanford Stadium next to the hedges.  Not on the field, but still pretty cool.  Early on in my training I set a time goal of 1:45.  I was doing great in my training until the weekend of the Tennessee game - about 1 month before the race.  That weekend I missed the longest training run.  Following that week things got crazy at work and then we seemed to all get sick here and I wasn't able to do much training.  I probably ran 3 times in the last month.  I figured my time goal was shot and I would just be happy to finish.

Apparently God had other plans. At least that is the only way I know how to explain what happened.  I knew going in that I would need God's help after not being able to finish the training.  I hated the idea that I would not be able to perform well, especially considering Ecclesiastes 9:10: "Whatever your hand finds to do, #do it with [all] your might".  Since I hadn't trained, I thought this might be a good chance to see God provide the strength I didn't have.
He absolutely came through!  I felt awesome pretty much the whole race.  I had cramping issues again in the last few miles and had to walk more than I liked, but I still managed to finish in 1:42:49!

Now for the bragging part...
This morning I looked at my Bible app on my phone and saw that today's verse was 1 Timothy 4:8: "for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come".  
Right now, Samantha and I are helping at our church by serving as teachers in the 4 year old class every other week.  This week was our week, so the plan was to run the 1/2, shower, and head to church to teach. The verse fit my day perfectly and I love when God does makes things so clear.
As I checked the kids in, one of the ladies told me "I LOVE your son".  Not a big surprise, we get that a lot. But she went on to tell me that he is "all boy" but that he is "spiritually sensitive in a way that is uncommon, especially at his age".  She said "he gets it".  I'm not sure I could have been more proud of him.  We do try to  teach him as much as we can about God's love for us and how that should affect how we live, you know, like Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.". 
BUT, we are so scattered and don't always do a good job of keeping that focus in our hectic lives.  This is definitely God working in Mac through our weaknesses.  
2 Corinthians 11:30 is the only reason I am bragging about any of this "If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness".
More pictures and less words next time.

Yet another sick day

Mac is home sick today, luckily Doug did not have to take off another day. I was able to switch days with another pharmacist and cover today. Mac seems to have picked up a stomach bug. He has handled it like a champ though. I think we have actually gotten through the worst of it now, but we went to the doctor this morning just to get checked out. They said they had seen a run of stomach issues like this, gave us some zofran, and rushed us out the door. Apparently stomach issues are the key to being seen quickly.

As we were leaving, the lady checking us out offered Mac a sucker (she didn't know what we were in for). Mac declined the sucker and instead picked up a business card. That was funny enough by itself. Then he spent the rest of the day carrying it around in his shirt pocket. I guess he has learned a few things from his grandfathers. :)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Adding a little fall

Maggie helped carry the flowers to the front steps. She suddenly look so big!


She also refuses to sit long enough to take a picture.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone