Christmas 2009

Here are some pictures of our Christmas in Houston - Saylor's first one! We hope your family had a wonderful holiday!


Saylor with Gammy, Pop-Pop, and her cousins


All the kids (Garrett, Connor, Saylor, Hudson, Miles). The boys are getting SO big, every time I see them they are totally different little people!


At Christmas Eve service (We did the 5:00 children's service this year. I must admit, I really missed the adult/candle-light version. Don't get me wrong, I love me a good sock puppet, but, you know...just not quite the same. Maybe next year we'll make Saylor stay up later)!


Here are 2 of my 3 sister in laws - Lisa and Amy. Nicole was in Virginia with her family on the day of this pic...but I loved getting to see her and Will earlier in the week.


Playing with a new present


One of our family traditions is these stockings. My Oma, (my dad's mom) made one for her entire extended family. Every time someone got married or had a baby, She made a new stocking! Oma passed away before Matt and I got married, so my mom found a lady who could replicate her pattern. We didn't get one made in time for Saylor this year, so my sweet sister knitted her this little one. It was so cute, and she wrote her a sweet letter too. Thanks, Ellen!


Opening a present with Grandma...a play kitchen!


Having fun with grandpa dave


Ellen, Saylor and me


Santa's little helper



Dallas had snow while we were gone! (This picture was actually from November, but our house still had snow on it when we got home. Crazy)!

My father-in-law

Whew - I feel like I have a lot to catch up on...we just returned from a week in Houston seeing friends and family and celebrating Christmas. This is a busy time of year in our household: our anniversary, Christmas, and all three of our birthdays within a month and a half span! We are thankful for our MANY blessings!

Another occasion for celebration occurred last Sunday with Matt's family. Many of you know that Matt's dad, Don, had a brain tumor about 11 years ago. Thankfully, the tumor was benign, but after his 3rd operation to fully remove the tumor, he suffered a pretty serious stroke. Because of it, he has had major changes in his mobility and speech, and the past ten years have definitely been a difficult journey for everyone in the family - Matt, his three brothers, and of course his dad and mom.

Matt's parents have been long time members an AMAZING church in Houston - MDPC. This group of people has so vividly cared for the Smith's - in many ways. They have truly been the hands and feet of Christ for them. This month, the church did a series about where the congregation sees the face of Christ - and they told Don's story via video. It was a special day...Don has been working hard and walked into church that morning! Much of the family was able to be there to see it, and after the video was over the whole congregation gave Don a standing ovation. I don't think there were very many dry eyes in the whole church!

I wanted to post the link to the video in case you are interested in watching. My in-laws have not been given an easy load to bear, but they both do so without complaint and with patient perseverance. Don is an amazing person and I am lucky to have him as my father-in-law!

For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 2 Corinthians 1:5

A new day

This morning I am encouraged by these verses:

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him. (Lamentations 3)

"Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." (Psalm 73)

And by this blog post from JR Vasser.

And by this sweet girl. :)

Sad news...

We are struggling today with the sad news that our Pastor's tumor is malignant. You can read more about it here on our church website.

Please continue to pray for Matt, his wife Lauren, and their three children.

I believe God is good and loving...

I know He is in control of ALL things.

But today is just hard.

And those who know Your name put their trust in You, for You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.
Psalm 9:10

Saylor and Santa

We took Saylor to meet Santa tonight. Here's how it went down:

Met Santa. Took a good look at him.



Not sure about him...began to whimper.



Definitely do NOT like him! Began to wail!



Much happier after we left that crazy man. :)

On my mind today

I read these verses yesterday, and they've been heavy on my heart all day today. Just thought I'd share...


Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands...Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever. He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.

Psalm 112

Merry Christmas!

We're definitely getting into the Christmas spirit around our house these days. Saylor had fun helping us "decorate" the tree, though she hasn't been too interested in it since then. (Now Morty the cat, on the other hand, is a different story). :)Here are a few pics of her in Christmas spirit.






(reaching for the piano here!)








(she must be wondering how she can get to the top?)




I can't believe that this time last year we were anxiously waiting her arrival and now she is almost ONE! (Insert your choice of immensely nostalgic comments here...I'm pretty much feeling them all).

We love you, sweet Saylor Grace!

Our pastor

In case you haven't heard already, Matt Chandler was suddenly diagnosed with a brain tumor about a week ago. This is a video message from him recorded before his surgery on Friday. He is now in recovery at the hospital; they are waiting for pathology results.

This video was encouraging for all of us at the Village who have learned so much from Matt over so many years. Please keep him and his family in your prayers!

Texas Fight

We are cheering on the Longhorns tonight at the Smith house...

Are you ready for kids?

A friend sent this to me and I thought it was pretty funny.

FOLLOW THESE 14 SIMPLE TESTS BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO HAVE CHILDREN

Test 1 - Preparation

Women: To prepare for pregnancy:-
1. Put on a dressing gown and stick a beanbag down the front.
2. Leave it there.
3. After 9 months remove 5% of the beans.

Men: To prepare for children:-
1. Go to a local chemist, tip the contents of your wallet onto the counter and tell the pharmacist
to help himself
2. Go to the supermarket. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home. Pick up the newspaper and read it for the last time.

Test 2 - Knowledge
Find a couple who are already parents and berate them about their methods of discipline, lack of
patience, appallingly low tolerance levels and how they have allowed their children to run wild.
Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's sleeping habits, toilet training, table manners
and overall behavior.

Enjoy it. It will be the last time in your life that you will have all the answers.

Test 3 - Nights
To discover how the nights will feel:
1. Walk around the living room from 5pm to 10pm carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 4 - 6kg,
with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly.
2. At 10pm, put the bag down, set the alarm for midnight and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 11pm and walk the bag around the living room until 1am.
4. Set the alarm for 3am.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2am and make a cup of tea.
6. Go to bed at 2.45am.
7. Get up again at 3am when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs in the dark until 4am.
9. Put the alarm on for 5am. Get up when it goes off.
10. Make breakfast.

Keep this up for 5 years. LOOK CHEERFUL.

Test 4 - Dressing Small Children
1. Buy a live octopus and a string bag.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the string bag so that no arms hang out.

Time Allowed: 5 minutes.

Test 5 - Cars
1. Forget the BMW. Buy a practical 5-door wagon.
2. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
3. Get a coin. Insert it into the CD player.
4. Take a box of chocolate biscuits; mash them into the back seat.
5. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Test 6 - Going For a Walk
Wait
Go out the front door
Come back in again
Go out
Come back in again
Go out again
Walk down the front path
Walk back up it
Walk down it again
Walk very slowly down the road for five minutes.
Stop, inspect minutely and ask at least 6 questions about every piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue
and dead insect along the way.
Retrace your steps
Scream that you have had as much as you can stand until the neighbours come out and stare at you.
Give up and go back into the house.

You are now just about ready to try taking a small child for a walk.

Test 7
Repeat everything you say at least 5 times.

Test 8 - Grocery Shopping
1. Go to the local supermarket. Take with you the nearest thing you can find to a pre-school child - a
fully grown goat is excellent. If you intend to have more than one child, take more than one goat.
2. Buy your weekly groceries without letting the goat(s) out of your sight.
3. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys.
Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.


Test 9 - Feeding a 1 year-old
1. Hollow out a melon
2. Make a small hole in the side
3. Suspend the melon from the ceiling and swing it side to side
4. Now get a bowl of soggy cornflakes and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon while pretending
to be an aeroplane.
5. Continue until half the cornflakes are gone.
6. Tip the rest into your lap, making sure that a lot of it falls on the floor.

Test 10 - TV

1. Learn the names of every character from the Wiggles, Barney, Teletubbies and Disney.
2. Watch nothing else on television for at least 5 years.

Test 11 - Mess
Can you stand the mess children make? To find out:
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains
2. Hide a fish behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flowerbeds and then rub them on clean walls. Cover the stains with crayon.
How does that look?
4. Empty every drawer/cupboard/storage box in your house onto the floor & leave it there.

Test 12 - Long Trips with Toddlers
1. Make a recording of someone shouting 'Mummy' repeatedly. Important Notes: No more than a 4
second delay between each Mummy. Include occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet.
2. Play this tape in your car, everywhere you go for the next 4 years.

You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Test 13 - Conversations
1. Start talking to an adult of your choice.
2. Have someone else continually tug on your shirt hem or shirt sleeve while playing the Mummy tape listed
above.

You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

Test 14 - Getting ready for work
1. Pick a day on which you have an important meeting.
2. Put on your finest work attire.
3. Take a cup of cream and put 1 cup of lemon juice in it
4. Stir
5. Dump half of it on your nice silk shirt
6. Saturate a towel with the other half of the mixture
7. Attempt to clean your shirt with the same saturated towel
8. Do not change (you have no time).
9. Go directly to work

You are now ready to have children. ENJOY!!

Thanksgiving

This year we spent Thanksgiving with our good friends D and Gary Marchand and their son, Gavin. Saylor enjoyed playing with her friend and partaking in the delicious food! We had a great day and have so much to be thankful for!

Getting closer to walking...

We got this on video tonight...funny! (I probably shouldn't post it because my narration is even more annoying than usual this time, BUT, we were laughing too hard at her "clap" at the end not to. Her balance isn't quite perfect yet). :)

California

Last weekend Matt and I got to take a little early anniversary trip to California! Matt was going there for work and we decided it would be fun if I joined him and we made a weekend out of it. Our parents took turns taking care of Saylor which made the trip possible- THANK YOUto the grandparents!!!! :)

We had a great time in Palo Alto and San Fransisco. We stayed one night with our good friends, Jeremy and Michelle. They took great care of us and it was really fun to spend time with them. The next day we drove up to Mendocino, did some winery tours, drove through the Redwoods, ate lunch on the coast, and stayed that night in a cute bed and breakfast. Matt even booked us massages at a little day spa! :) The next day we met back up with the Utley's in San Fransisco and did some shopping and eating.

The best part about the trip was just to have low key time with Matt without a million things to do. We rented a car and drove a fair amount, which was actually really nice. The scenery was beautiful and I was reminded how much I love how we can spend hours together and alternate between great conversation, listening to new music, or just being still and quiet together. Of course we missed Saylor, but it was definitely nice to get away. It's funny how much things have changed in 11 months since our family went from 2 to 3! This December we will celebrate our 6th anniversary...hard to believe and I am so lucky to be married to this guy.

The Golden Gate Bridge


A winery we toured in Sonoma


Us in the Redwoods - these things were awesome!


The Utley's


Here's what was waiting for us when we got home!

Birthday boy

Happy Birthday, Matt! We love you!

Lesson I (re)learned today

I went to the eye doctor today for an annual check up (although I hadn't been in three years, so it wasn't exactly annual). For a 15 minute period while she was waiting for my eyes to dilate, I experienced a glimpse of what life would be like without sight. You see, my prescription is not good...not good at all. Let's just say that without my contacts I cannot even see the enormous black "E" at the top of the page. Poor Matt's eyes are even worse than mine. (And poor Saylor is probably doomed)! We've talked before about how lucky we are to be born in the "age of corrective lenses". I bet if we had been born in biblical times we would be the "blind men" they refer to sitting on the side of the road...

Anyways, in that 15 minutes time span with no contacts, the following things occurred:
-I moved exam rooms twice, pushing Saylor in her stroller and carrying my enormous diaper bag, accidentally bumping into something twice and holding onto the walls to keep from falling
-I had a conversation with the billing lady and paid for my visit, including signing my name. Couldn't make eye contact with her cause I couldn't see her. Had to bend all the way down to the desk to see what I was writing.
-I entertained Saylor and tried to feed her bits of her lunch to keep her happy, the whole time moving my head within inches of hers to see if she was actually getting the food into her mouth
-Saylor started waving and (I think) smiling like crazy at one point. At first I thought it was at me, so I smiled and waved back. Then I realized it was at another patient also waiting who I think was maybe making funny faces at her?
-I tried to initiate some small talk with the Doctor (she is not very talkative/friendly), only to have her politely say "um-hmm" and not really respond other than that.

The point of this story is 1) how ridiculous I felt the whole time and probably looked the whole time (though I know they are obviously used to it) and 2) (and more importantly), how much respect I have for blind people and people with physical hardships in general. Having one of my senses removed from me made me feel so incredibly vulnerable. I couldn't properly take care of myself or my child. I couldn't see or gauge people's reactions to me or anything around me. I was several seconds behind with everything happening around me. It was such a strange feeling and I was immensely relieved to have my contacts back in and my world "restored" to what I perceive it to be.

Obviously, I knew the whole time that the experience wouldn't last long. But, my heart goes out to those whose lives are turned upside down in some way. My patients who've been in major traumas and their families are the first who come to mind. But, also those in all of our lives who are dealing with death, or illness, or loss of work, or something that just pulls the rug out from under you like that.

All this to say, it points me back to this:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. Colossians 1

Praise Christ that HE is stable when what we know is not, that HE holds ALL things together, that HE is Creator and Sustainer of life, even when life is not what we've always known it to be and even in life beyond this life, for those who hope in Him!

New music

My friend Caroline's new cd is out...yea! It is so good...I love ALL of her lyrics. You can get it on itunes or here.

"helping" in the kitchen

Tis the season

Is it weird that I was listening to Christmas carols last week? Probably. But for some reason I am feeling really in the wintery spirit.

Wintery things I am loving right now:

This Christmas album by Mindy Smith



Starbucks Vanilla Rooibos Tea Latte. Even the nonfat version is delicious!


These Restoration Hardware slippers my sis gave me last year for Christmas. I wish I could wear them everywhere.

Halloween

We are typically not big Halloween fans, but it was pretty fun this year with babies involved. We had a little party with some other baby friends...I REALLY wanted a cute picture of them lined up in a row, but sadly none of the babies were too fond of that idea.

Here's me and our little lobster. I can't believe I really didn't get ONE good picture of her in this...think she was pretty overwhelmed most of the day.



Gavin the Monkey


James the Duck (his family did a duck, duck, goose theme -very creative)


Saylor and Harper, the Bumblebee


A meltdown on the couch with Berkley, the Giraffe


Another meltdown, this time on the floor


Saylor and Ethan, the Indian (his whole family did a cowboys and Indian theme - cute!)


A plate of Halloween cookies that Ellen helped me make. Yum...soooooooooo much sugar yesterday.......ugh.