Kids Said Monday

I'm deeming it Kids Said Monday.  Boom.  And it's so.  It's nice to have your own blog where you can deem things into being. 

For the past couple of weekends JR has been avoiding his naps, like the plague.  Saturday was no exception.  He didn't take a nap and instead trashed his room.  Sunday, we put him down and I checked on him a while later to make sure I didn't hear little hands playing and little mouths talking.  Indeed, I heard no noise and proceeded to take myself a much needed nap.

Upon awaking and going to get my little monkey from his room, I heard noise.  Uh-oh.  Well, surely he's just gotten up recently and it's no big deal, right?  Wrong.  He didn't just trash his room, he demolished it and did not take a nap.  He also tore up a book, which I promptly asked him about. 

Me: JR, did you tear that book up?
JR: (pause) No.
Me: Well, JR, if you didn't tear it up who did?  You were the only one in the room.
JR: (long, long pause)  Dinosaur, roar. 

Readers (all two of you), I held it together, and explained that we don't tear books and that tearing another book would result in punishment.  However, my insides were laughing hysterically.  I hope he didn't look at my eyes too closely or he'd have known that mommy was amused, terribly amused.  What a little stinker!

Time's flying

Time is flying by now, with only a little more than a month before my estimated due date.  I can hardly believe that we started this journey last year and will have a handsome bundle of joy in our arms so soon.  I know our life is about to change immensely, but I can't help being excited. 

We have had two showers, thrown by the ladies of Petal-Harvey Baptist Church and my Sunday School Class, and have one more shower left, next weekend.  This time it is my Mom's church, Springfield Baptist Church (where I was born and raised), doing the honors.  I am very excited, not only for the shower, but for the chance to go home and spend some time.  Chances are I won't be back down there until after the baby's birth, so I can't wait to see Gramps and Grandmother and spend some time with my Mom and Dad at their home. 

We have been so blessed thus far, and I'm so behind in my Thank You's.  Hopefully though, I will have time enough to finish them soon.  Here's hoping...

stop the presses...

I know this is not my normal post, but I wanted to take a moment and let everyone know I've had a breakthrough.  Stop the presses, folks...

I ate mayonnaise by choice today!  Granted, it wasn't really mayonnaise, rather a glorified, tasty homemade Cajun aioli, but nonetheless, I chose it over homemade spicy honey mustard at a local cafe.  They put both sauces on the side so I could try them, and I chose the aioli over the mustard.  Unbelievable. 

Tomorrow, I'm sure I'll be posting that brussel sprouts are my new favorite side dish.

Idea...

So, cousin Amy had a great idea recently, and she and I decided to get some feedback on it. 

Here's the pitch:
Next summer on Memorial Day Weekend, we'd like to have a family mission trip.  We are thinking somewhere nearby, like New Orleans, so that more people can be involved.  We don't have a game plan yet, but there are lots of options, including Target House or finding a small church that wouldn't be able to do their own VBS and doing a mini-VBS for them.  Any ideas are welcome, but right now we are most interested in finding out who would be willing or interested in getting involved.  I know this seems early for planning, but the sooner we get the date cemented, the more likely more people can be involved. 

So, leave a comment here or give us a call and let us know what you think.  Or, use Facebook or email to let us know what you think.  Primarily we're just sending out feelers right now.  This isn't limited to just the Smith Family.  Check with the Kings, the McKays, the Murphys, the Martins, the Guerrys and the Thomases and anyone else I've left out.  The more the merrier!  Also, the date isn't cemented, but we thought more people may be able to get involved then since most of us would have that Monday or Friday off of work. 

Personally, I think this would be a great idea and a great way for us to build relationships with others and within the family.  What do ya'll think?

Off topic...

On the way to work this morning I heard something that jarred me.  Granted, it's off topic slightly from my prior posts, but I thought I would share it anyway.  I've always heard that if you don't reach a person for Christ prior to their 18th birthday, there is only a 36% chance that they will become a Christian after that time.  I thought that was stirring, however that statistic has changed drastically since I last heard it. 

Josh McDowell was on the radio with Rick and Bubba this morning and the new stats are shocking.  If a person is not converted prior to their 12th birthday, there is only a 4% chance they will ever be converted after that age.  Wow!  That puts the scope of things into perspective.  Basically, teaching children's choir is more important than I realized.  So is working with the youth, volunteering to help with Vacation Bible School and just mentoring the youth and children in our churches and communities in general.  Sadly enough, most kids never see their parents even open a Bible, and with that example, they don't stand a chance unless someone else takes a risk.  What can I do today to give a child a chance?  What can you do?

John Riley's highchair...

Bad weather update

Good morning all!  We have had some concern expressed about the rash of bad weather we had over the weekend and wanted to let everyone know (especially those that are out of state and not familiar with the areas that were hit) that we are doing fine.  The tornados were mainly to the north of us, though we were under a warning for a short period of time.  Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected; as of this morning the death toll was at 10, but the damage and destruction is unbelieveable from the reports I've seen.  Please keep the areas hit in your prayers as we finish out this week.