I left my heart in Wisonsin

Last weekend I went to hang out with a bunch of yankees in Wisconsin. At least I thought I was hanging out with a bunch of yankees. Turns out these sweet ladies must have been southern-wannabes because they took this redneck in and made her family in less than twelve hours! (And they only moderately made fun of my dialect.) Except for their puffy Land's End coats and the frozen lake outside my window I would have sworn I was south of the Mason-Dixon.

Fun observations:

1-These people actually purchase and wear the stuff that keeps Land's End in business; I always flip to the section of the catalog with the cute canvas totes. Now when one arrives in the mail I'll think of my Crossroads sisters.

2-My first thought when looking out my window to the empty marina, "Why aren't there any boats on this lake?"It literally took me a couple of seconds to realize that the lake was frozen solid. Clearly local folks aren't caught off guard by this phenomenon and pull their boats out in time to have them safely docked elsewhere for the winter. 

3-Crazy, I mean crazy people up in them parts actually drive out and park on said lake. And even crazier ones still actually hike out to the middle of that bad boy, drill a hole, sit in a shack and fish! Give this sweet, southern pansy a warm Red Lobster restaurant any old day.

4-I was at a retreat for a Southern Baptist Church that lives just outside Chicago. Illinois. Now that's as crazy as four inches of snow in Atlanta. In March.

And that's just what I returned home to find-four inches of snow and two very excited little boys and one very excited big boy. While it was delightful to be home the snow made me think of my new family, and I realized I left part of my heart in Lake Geneva.

More tomorrow on the amazing things God did in that place. It was cold outside, but the Fire kept us warm inside. I love it when the Holy Spirit shows off...

The Third and Final Installment

Long overdue; pictures of our third son. And yes, we think we are done. But then again how does the phrase go-best way to make God laugh? Tell Him your plans. We will see.

We interrupt normal life

Okay so I only got halfway through my year in review, but I had something come up or out as the case may be. I'd like to introduce you to Ryder Capps, our third son. He joined our family the first week of January. We are home and doing life. At this point that's about as much as I can say. I'll be back with pictures very soon.

2008-A Year In Review

The title of this post almost makes me want to give up before I even start. How on earth do I summarize a year? But I want to do a better job of cataloging our life, God's faithfulness and even some of our failures so that the boys have the stories long after we have forgotten. So, here goes...

In January we took Cooper to his first trip to Disney World. Feeling (I think quite accurately) that Dylan wouldn't remember much we chose to leave him at home. It was a great time for the grandparents to get some time to spoil him all by himself. Chad and I made some amazing memories. What a blessing!

In February we celebrated Dylan's first birthday. My goodness how time flies. In a blink our baby was a year old. Surrounded by family I spent most of the day pinching myself. Over and over on days like these I hear the Spirit whisper "it's the kindness of God that leads to repentance." God has been incredibly kind, and I have much to be repentant for.

Dylan has proven to be an absolute joy and a constant distraction. His energy, sweetness and mischief know no end. Chad and I are constantly amazed at his ingenuity; it's usually aimed at ways to injure himself or break something. He is a delight nonetheless. We tell people regularly that he is the alpa male between he and his brother. Charming and savvy, he will undoubtedly give us stories for years to come.

March and April disappeared into summer without a lot of fanfare. We did decide during this time to put our house on the market...what timing, right? We are sure God is leading us to move back to Covington so we figure this is the first step. We are trusting His sovereignty like never before. Following his will in this life change will surely require His supernatural intervention.

May will forever be remembered as the Mother's Day we discovered we were pregnant with our third (and last) child. I have always wanted three children. This was a sweet and yet poignant moment. I was thrilled to find out we were pregnant, and yet in my marrow I knew I'd never enjoy that news again.

In June I attended the Proverbs31 SheSpeaks conference as a member of the speaking team. I am honored and overwhelmed to be in the company of such amazing women. God is using this ministry to grow me up, and graciously open doors to serve. May the Kingdom grow and God be glorified.

Summer came to a close in a flurry of vacations, trips to the park and play dates. As summer wound down we celebrated Cooper's third birthday. We started potty training, slowly but surely. And remarkably Cooper started to read. His ability to process and retain information is mind-boggling. He knows all of his colors, shapes and alphabet. He can count to 40 or 50, depending on his mood. Coop knows not only his alphabet, but also every phonetic sound the letter makes. He also has an uncanny ability to sing countless praise songs from memory. Our little three-year old is a walking juke box.

I know, I know I'm that Mom, but you see Chad and I don't take any credit for this. God has been remarkably good. Daily my parents' maxim is affirmed-sometimes good parenting happens in spite of our best efforts not because of them. What can be more proof of overwhelming, irresistible grace?

Halfway there. More to come tomorrow.

More to come tomorrow...

Inquiring minds want to know...

Dear friends,

Thank you a million times over for every Spirit-prompted recollection and inquiry about our soon-to-be growing family. I am so sorry for the lack of details. This Christmas has been wonderful for us as Cooper and Dylan participated like never before in celebrating the birth of our Savior. Which basically means they ate cookies, wrote out lists for Santa and anxiously awaited Christmas morning and the great unwrapping event of 2008. We did manage a brief reading of the Christmas story, decorating a birthday cake for Jesus and displaying the nativity scene. They played with it just like thier figurines from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I hope reverence will be a learned trait. Then again, child-like affection for the wisemen, shepherds and baby Jesus was just too sweet to correct. I tell myself there will be time for that.

So all that to say we spent a lot of this Christmas in the here and now enjoying the newness of the season when seen through the eyes of a three and almost two-year old. It really was magical. Ryder was the ever-present gift of the advent season reminding us not-so-gently that he would be making his entrance soon. I've been contracting pretty regularly for more than three weeks now. We were able to get the contractions to slow, but not stop completely. I spent most of the week of Christmas on semi-induced bed rest. Our goal was to make it past Christmas day...and we did. According to the doctors my body is simply ready (likely due to the fact that this is my third pregnancy in four years) even if Ryder is not. As of Sunday we were at 37 weeks so there won't be any need to stop labor now should it progress on its own. So now we wait.

All of this is made increasingly difficult by the fact that Dylan came three weeks early in very quick fashion, roughly three hours of labor and twenty minutes of pushing. Also we now have two children to make accommodations for while we are in the hospital so we can't exactly dart out the door unexpectedly in the middle of the night. Finally, we are about 40 minutes from the hospital with no traffic. So it would be awesome if we had a little head's up that Ryder is ready to join the world. But that's all the bad news.

Here's the good news. We are all healthy. According to all ultrasounds, Ryder is perfect. I feel 37 weeks pregnant which is to say not great, but not terrible. The boys are excited and ready. And Chad...well he has been simply more than I could ask or imagine. He spent four hours at Wal-Mart the other night stocking up on groceries. He even went so far as to ask for the brand of popcorn I was looking for and searched out the exact kind of mushrooms I needed. He has done laundry, cleaned the kitchen, honored every silly craving and request, tucked me in at night and gotten up with the kiddos so I can sleep in a little late. And he tells me regularly how beautiful he thinks I am. How ridiculously blessed am I?

So sweet friends that is our long belated update. After two trips to the hospital only to be sent home we now wait for baby Ryder to join our little family. My heart leaps at the thought. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of Lights. I am a woman overwhelmingly blessed.