"Snow" Much Fun!

I'm supposed to be finishing up packing.... yes, it's 12:30.... but instead, I had to download pictures off of the camera and thought I'd share one fun one with my blog readers! After church today, Aaron couldn't wait to get outside to play! He and Scott seemed to have a wonderful time.... shoveling and snow ball fights included!!!

Just a side note: Scott opened this hat at a White Elephant Gift Exchange this Christmas (thanks a lot, Branneman's).... yikes, he thinks it's wonderful.... I'm still not so sure! HA!

Colts & Bears, Baby!!!

Oh yeah.... it was fun to finish watching the game with my boys tonight! We were celebrating! Hmmm.... maybe it's a good thing that we missed the first half though.... we sure enjoyed the 4th quarter once we got home from Summit.

And.... Summit was terrific tonight, too! A great message on discipleship that shot to the core of me; I had a great conversation with my girls, too! How amazing that MY rabbi is calling ME.... an ordinary human being! What a privilege to be HIS disciple!!!

By the way.... I loved that the Colt's coach mentioned playing the Superbowl in Fort Wayne.... hey, how 'bout Warsaw?!!! We'll actually be about an hour from Miami next week... wish we could stay a few extra days (hmmm.... tickets might be a problem though! HA!)

Request...

I just read about this through our friend, Stevan's blog. Josh Buck, a pastor in the Grand Rapids area, was seriously injured in a swimming/diving accident while vacationing in Mexico. He has two young kids, too. No, I don't know this family.... but my heart hurts for them today. Would you join me in praying for healing?

Read more here.

Two words....

GO COLTS!

(okay, more than two words....) We're bummed about the late kick off.... we have Summit tonight and won't get to see the game! Between the game and the snow around here, I'm guessing that we won't have many kids there, but Scott didn't want to cancel tonight for football when we aren't meeting the night of the Superbowl anyway! Maybe this is the year for the Colts! Yippe!

Goodbye Snow!

Yep, that's right.... the Greene's are headed to Florida for 10 days! YAHOO! We leave in the morning!!! It's truly a blessing. A youth pastor from a church in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (near Jacksonville) asked Scott to come speak at their church this Wednesday night, and as payment, they are giving us a three bedroom condo for the week for free! HOORAH!!! While the weather down there isn't beach weather at this time of year, it will still be great to see the sun and enjoy the blessing of being together for the week! We're really excited, too, because we're going to get to see our friends, Steve and Julie Helm, in West Palm while we are there as well. If you think of us, pray for us as we travel with our two little guys!

The Great Pacifier Chase

Okay.... I'm pretty sure that we're not the only parents who have ever experienced this.... but no matter what we do, it seems that we can NEVER find a pacifier within arms reach when Isaac needs one! I think that we have five of those dudes, but they always seem to be hiding from us.... under the crib, in the toy box, in the recliner, in a diaper bag somewhere.... the list is never ending. A few years ago, I noticed that one of my friends always had a rubbermaid container on the changing table with at least ten of the suckers.... but I really can't see making that kind of investment! :) HA! Any tips from the parents out there????? Hopefully, we'll be done with them in a few months anyone; Aaron gave his up at 10 months.

Baby Dedication Sunday

What a blessing! Scott and I were able to dedicate Isaac on Sunday at the 10:00 service. It was so awesome to have family and friends there and was just a precious time for us as a family. After the journey we had with miscarriages and specialists after we had Aaron, there were definitely days when I doubted if we would ever be blessed with another child to dedicate. I was teary all morning just thinking about that.... feeling so blessed and so privileged to have little Isaac in our lives. He is truly a blessing, and it's so amazing to dream about and pray about what his life will hold. Now, if I could just get him to quit growing up SO fast........

One of the highlights for me was talking about the day with Aaron. We decided to take him into the service so that he could witness it, too. That night, as I tucked him in, I explained to him that we had dedicated him to God when he was a baby, too. I asked him if he had any questions. Then, when we were getting ready to say bedtime prayers, he decided we should pray that Isaac would decide to ask Jesus into his heart someday, too. Ahhh.... that was so, so special.... to pray with a big brother who cares about his little brother's heart. I loved it!

Basketball, anyone?

Tonight was a pretty bizarre night for me. Scott and his co-worker, Evan, had decided to go to the girls' JV/Varsity game tonight at Warsaw to chat with kids and support the girls on the team. Scott invited the boys and I to join them and right before we left, he informed me that Warsaw was playing Valley tonight. Yeah, I'm a Valley grad.... yeah, I always hated playing in the "Tiger Den" when I was in high school, but yeah, I still wanted to go. And no, I found that I couldn't cheer for either team; it just felt weird. But.... a few crazy things happened that boggled my mind....

First, the cheerleaders. Well, a little background in case you, my readers, don't already know, I cheered for 7 years! Yes, SEVEN! I loved it and poured a lot of time and energy into it! Anyway, what was SO interesting for me tonight was watching how intense and concerned the girls seemed about "getting it right." Thinking back, I remember how awesome it was when we were able to pull off a new stunt, got that jump just right, etc., etc., etc. It was SO important! Now, I'm not for a minute devaluing what the girls are doing; however, it's SO interesting to think about the perspective that being an adult brings (thank goodness!) At one point, I thought.... surviving 28 hours of labor is the REAL accomplishment.... not pulling off a perfect toe touch!!! Ahh, yes, perspective! On the other hand, the girls were great, by the way! Two of them were my small group girls, so I loved watching them have fun! Aaron really loved watching them dance, too... hmmm....

Second, and this was really the most bizarre.... when I was cheering at Valley (from '90-'94 for those of you who are concerned about my age!), there was a precious little girl with beautiful, long, curly hair named Chelsey.... she was about 5ish years old. She and her little, adorable sister would just gaze at us cheering with such admiration at all of the high school boys' games, and she just seemed to eat it up when her mom came and talked to me after the games. I can honestly say that I remember as a high school senior thinking that I was some sort of role model to this little girl.... I never wanted her to see me doing something outside of these games that would let her down, and I truly did feel the weight of that responsibility. Okay.... so here's the bizarre part.... yeah, she was one of Valley's star players tonight. She seemed to be super competitive and had so much poise on the court; yeah, she was a stud. And yeah, I felt old watching her play..... wow, generations come and generations go! After watching her 13 years ago with her pom poms and pigtails, I was convinced she'd grow up and cheer.... however, the basketball certainly was a great fit for her tonight! :)

Date Night!

One of the best decisions that we've made in the past year is to do "date night swaps" with Brandon and Angie Schmitt! We love their kids, and we're pretty sure that they love ours.... it's just a win-win-WIN situation for all of us! We got out of sync when we had Isaac, but since Christmas, we've been trying to get our dates on the calendar again! Tonight, it was our night! YEA!

We decided to do dinner and a movie. Scott ended up picking the movie this time.... I was vying for "We are Marshall" but Scott picked "Night at the Museum" instead. I must admit, I was pretty skeptical going into it.... but I must also admit, I ended up really enjoying it! It was fun.... and not the typical Ben Stiller raunchy-ness (is that a word?!!) We also had a great free-birthday-dinner coupon for Bennigans and for the first time EVER, had great service and a great meal there (and free dessert, too! HELLO!) Thanks so much to Angie for allowing us to have this great night out! Hope that next Saturday is a great time for them!!! YEA for date nights!!!

"Armed & Famous"

Okay, a part of me can't believe that I'm giving space on my blog to this.... but.... Scott and I just had a fun hour. We just watched the new CBS show, "Armed & Famous." Well, this show has been the talk of the town of Muncie for weeks, and we were finally able to see a bit of it! For any of you who haven't heard about it, five actors/celebs actually become Muncie, IN cops. Now, the show was not nearly as entertaining for me as looking over and asking my hubby "Where's that? And that? And that?!!" He recognized a lot of places; he lived in Muncie for 27 years! I actually smiled at the "break" scene at the Sunshine Cafe; that's where my friends from Taylor and I used to go for late night "study" runs! And we've been to that Texas Roadhouse a number of times with Scott's parents (and, for the record, I never asked for a tablecloth like La Toya did)! We'll probably keep watching over the coming weeks occasionally.... just to see if we recognize anyone (hopefully, not anyone they are apprehending!) However, I may stay away from Muncie for awhile; can you imagine being pulled over by La Toya Jackson, the Osborne kid, or "Ponch"?!!

31!!!

Happy Birthday to me! Yes, January 10th is a big day in my life.... I had a pretty good day. It was fun to celebrate with all of my boys tonight, and my mom and dad took us out for dinner and even surprised me with a real birthday cake at the house afterwards! Scott gave me a really sweet card and picture frame this morning. Then, it was SO funny. Aaron had me convinced that he and daddy had gone shopping for a new washing machine for me (not that I need one.... I thought he was confused and meant a dishwasher!) Anyway, ALL day today, he kept saying that I'd have to wait to see when I opened more presents when we went out to dinner! Ahh, the imagination of a 4-year old! There weren't more presents AT dinner (and I'm more than okay with that!) :)

Perspective...

I just found this site through a friend's blog. Wow, click here if you are longing for some perspective....

Like father, like son!

Okay, so I had just finished posting Scott's kindergarten picture (see below for full story!) when I thought to myself, "Huh, Aaron is getting pretty close to kindergarten (in 1 1/2 years), I should compare their pictures!" So.... check out my findings... not identical, but definitely a few similarities! Have I mentioned that I've been asked at Walmart if I am BABYSITTING for Aaron? "No.... he's mine, REALLY!"

Check out this cute kid!

Check out that collar!

Awhile back, Scott's mom gave me a stack of pictures.... this one included! I love it! This is Scott's kindergarten picture! Isn't he a cutie? Scott's mom loves to tell the story of "Scottie" getting ahold of scissors and cutting his bangs off right before this picture was taken. I have told him a couple of times that if we were in elementary school together (and if he weren't a 5th grader when I was in 1st!) I would have had a major crush on him, fought to be near him on the merry-go-round or the monkey bars, and lived for the days of kissing tag on the playground! As it turns out, this guy of mine just gets more cute with age!!! Yep, I'm pretty fond of him!

Too funny...

Okay, this cracks me up. This was the "card" that our student ministry staff posted on the students' blog and small group leaders' blog for Christmas! Ha! Isn't Scott, in particular, a very handsome guy?!!! I love it!

Where is my heart?

Scott started a series last night at One entitled simply, "Listen." Last night, we explored what it means to carve out times of "aloneness" and silence in order to seek the heart of God and hear from Him. Hmm.... silence.... "aloneness." It's really easy for me to say, "But I have preschoolers!!!" While I think there is an ounce of legitimacy to that (have you met Aaron and seen how social he is?) I know that God is calling me out in this area. I have no excuse, really. I know that God wants to speak directly to my heart.... and also believe that He often seems whisper in our lives rather than shout. I know that there are so many needs in my life right now that He wants to address.... but I have to tune out the noise of the world to tune into Him.

I loved the honesty of my girls during our small group time last night.... it actually challenged me, too. We talked about how difficult it is to actually "carve out" time and "set down" the stuff.... Ipods, cell phones, email, etc. What I've realized as I have reflected on this more over the past 24 hours is that both of those require much action and consistent discipline. Many times in my life, I think that I sit back and wait for spiritual growth to just happen and am just bummed when it doesn't. Well, duh.... God, my Creator, didn't design it that way!

The other issue that keeps ringing in my head is a passage from Matthew that Scott shared with us. Yes, I've heard it before, but this time around, it's burning in my soul. Isn't it amazing how God's Truth does that? Burns in us so deeply that we are then compelled to actually become different and through our reflection, do something about it. Here it is:

"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me" (Matthew 15:8).

Ouch! Jesus was addressing the Pharisees and their legalism in this passage, but I think this certainly is penetrating for me in my own journey as well. I do not want that to be said of me. I want my entire life to be marked by Christ. In college, I read a quick little book called, "The Mark of the Christian." The author talked about our lives being marked by LOVE. I truly believe that this is not played out in what we DO but in WHO WE ARE.

"Watching" Football

We've had a pretty lazy day here at the Greene's (as "lazy" as it gets with two preschoolers in the house!) I actually stayed home from church this morning with Isaac because he's been fighting off a cold/cough, and we didn't want to expose all the babies in the nursery. Scott and Aaron went to the 8:30 service and then "out for a coke" (AKA chocolate milk and a donut!) at Marsh afterwards. This afternoon, we all enjoyed "watching" the Patriots/Jets game.... we're not big fans of either team, but as you can see from the pictures, Aaron, Scott, and Ollie (our lab who is on the couch with Aaron in the picture) were all VERY into the game. This was actually a VERY rare occurrence for Aaron at our house. Basically, we gave him two options this afternoon.... either lay on the couch or on your bed and don't wiggle (BIG challenge for our four year old!) He obviously chose the couch and SCORE: it worked!!! We have our Summit (our student ministry) meeting tonight and don't get home until around 10:00, so it's always nice if both of the boys get a good nap on Sunday afternoons.... and it's not too bad for us either!

Binkie Buddies!

We had a really good time in Muncie last weekend with Scott's family. It was a blessing that we were all able to be together... for a couple of days, we weren't sure that it was going to happen!

There were all kinds of crazy things that happened last week in Scott's sister's family (plumbing issues, strep, food poisoning....) and our brakes started going crazy on Friday, and we weren't sure HOW we were going to get to Muncie (with the 85-lb. dog, pack -n- play, and TWO children, we certainly weren't all going to fit in the Saturn, AKA go-kart, as I call it!) Thankfully, we were able to get the van into the shop at 2:00 on Friday afternoon (we love you, Global Auto!) and our precious friend, Angie Schmitt, let the four of us crash at her place for the rest of the afternoon until it was ready (you're the best, Ang!)

Anyhow, we did have a great time. We sure have been enjoying watching our niece, Lainy, as she grows up! Our boys love her, too! I love this picture of Lainy and Isaac; I just think that babies with binkies (they're actually called "pacies" at our house!) are so stinkin' cute.... especially when they grin with it in and their entire face lights up behind it! Cute, so cute....

What a week!

We have had a pretty terrific week+.... full of fun celebrations and a lot of family-time! What a blessing! Two weeks ago, Scott discovered that he had some vacation days that were a "use it or lose it" kind of thing, so the boys and I were able to enjoy time with him for all but 1 of the past 10 days! YEA!!! Have I mentioned?!! We love that sweet guy!!!

Our Christmas celebrations were all wonderful! It's so much fun to see others enjoying our boys and to see our boys enjoying others! It brings so much joy to my heart! Here are just a couple of fun pictures!

* Cute, cute, cute! Friends of ours let us borrow this Santa suit for Isaac; oh my goodness, he sure was a"Christmas-cutie." One sweet lady at church said that someone said to her, "You have got to see the Greene's baby!" Yeah.... he was a hit in the nursery on Christmas Eve! One of Isaac's nursery buddies was even dressed up like Mrs. Claus that day!

* "Enough already, mom! Get me out of this silly suit!"


* We enjoyed being home for all of Christmas Day this year. Aaron and I had a great time making a birthday cake for Jesus that morning! Aaron was adorable.... he loved picking out what kind of cake to make and decided that Jesus would like "pink ice cream" (peppermint!) He then declared that he had to eat the cake because baby Jesus was in HIS heart and that is how it would get to Him! I hope Jesus likes sprinkles.... because Aaron sure does!* I LOVE this picture! We haven't taken a picture with just the 5 of us in years (I think!) This is the Burch-clan.... my mom and dad, Deb, Dawn, and me!