Halloween!

So I did finally buy 2 pumpkins this week- I thought it would be fun to color the pumpkins first...

Luke thought me chasing him inside was a lot more fun!

He thought Dad playing airplane with him was REALLY fun. :) I will add that you have not heard sheer JOY until you have heard my son laugh. Strangers stop to listen to him belly-laugh.

As usual, I have already digressed....this evening the Ellises came over to carve pumpkins with us! I was a little concerned when Josh started prepping me for what I was going to have to do to carve...evidently, he and Brannan had not realized this was their job. Kate's and my job was to dole out candy corns and encourage them while carving. Once that was settled, we got started.

This is Luke's costume for next year- a bit big this year, but isn't he a cute duck?

Sweet Callum, who aged considerably in the 3 weeks they were gone.

The girls

The girls were told if they smiled for this pic, they'd be allowed to go outside. Voila. You may not be able to tell that Lily is a very cute cat. Oh, and Rebekah insisted on squeezing herself into this 3T costume...

Our final result. (You can see how short the duck get-up is on her!)

Typical Kate. It was a long 3 weeks without her.

Ours is the one on the left. Brannan did the one on the right.

The Ellis family

We also went to the park this afternoon and while Josh kept working, the kids and I all took 2 hour naps. LOVE that- it's rare for us all to sleep so well. Bless them.

Playing guitar

Rebekah begged Josh to pull out their guitar...she was all ears for like 3 minutes. It was Luke who was glued to Josh's side for each tune and who even tried to help him pluck (and put toys in the neck of the guitar). Once again, we were reminded how musical Luke seems to be. He may not use a lot of "words," but he is amazing at inflections and mimicking. I count the birds on his counting pictures in his room to distract him while I change his diaper. He quits squirming and listens to my rhythm and then mimics it in his own sounds. I love it. Maybe we have a budding musician...? Every parent thinks that.

Rebekah...in her princess dress (that she adores, Mom!) IN the guitar case, yelling, "Bekah in a bag!" and insisting I finish zipping the side.

Luke all about what Daddy's doing.

Another fun stage we're going thru is dress-up. And I do mean DRESS-up. If possible, Rebes will make anything a dress and tells me once a day, "I LOVE dresses, mama. Thanks for letting me wear a dress today." So, this has extended to night-wear in that she wants to wear nightgowns when possible. So, we have to layer since we're not running the heat.

Contentment

So, I have been doing quite a bit of thinking...I blame it all on this new Bible study (really, it's a book study) we started here in Aberdeen (thanks, RO!). It's based on the tongue and a book called "Words that Hurt, Words that Heal" by Carole Mayhall. It is tiny and takes about 5 minutes to read a chapter, which suits me just fine. I figured I'd feel bad about gossip, etc, but I wasn't expecting such conviction so early on.

Here's the deal, I don't think I realized how ferocious my words can be. I am easily frustrated and brought to impatience by everyday things. Having 2 young children has only made this worse. My words can be sharp and last week, Rebekah even asked me, "Mommy, why are you mad at me?" I cried then and I am crying as I type it. I asked her forgiveness because I actually wasn't mad at her, but obviously my impatience about whatever I was upset about was obvious. "From the abundance of the heart, so the mouth speaks" (Matt 12:34)...evidently, I have some issues in my heart. I have been prayerfully trying to pinpoint them and they are these:

-I am prone to make comparisons that end up unfavorably towards me
-I expect things to go well and am disappointed when they do not
-I want my children to be happy at all times, and that is never going to happen
-I miss being at "home" and having family around
-I dislike Scottish rain/wind/lack of warmth so much that I am frequently frustrated with our limited outdoor exposure (and that we do not have a dryer :))
-I get tired easily (Luke is my blood for sure) and overreact when tired

When one or all of these things build up in my heart, my mouth is bound to let loose. For instance, let's take yesterday. Luke has been waking up in a funk and has been very clingy the past few days (we go thru spurts where this is not true, I promise). His night time sleep has been interrupted, which means mine has, too. He is still not walking and only wants me at all times. I feel loved in my best moments and stifled at my worst as I think about what most 18-month-olds are doing (we call that comparison, ladies and gentlemen). Rebekah has been testing boundaries again, which I am told is quite normal at this age. Doesn't change the difficulty in it, though. She asks the same question over and over again, hoping for a better answer until I have to discipline her for not obeying the first time. She is also intentionally driving Luke nuts, but not maliciously, so it's tricky. it has been raining and gray nonstop. My washer broke on Friday, so the sopping wet clothes never fully dried and new laundry built up, including all the towels we used to sop up the rain leak in the bathroom- everything was musty. The washer was fixed on Monday morning and it was not raining, so I got every garment re-washed Monday and out to dry, which never happened b/c it's simply not warm enough, so I risked the 20% chance of rain overnight (which means of course it rained), and as I was tangled up with kids/life yesterday morning and was watching my clothes get wet again outside b/c i do not have the space to put it all indoors, it all got wrapped up in my head to the point that I was having difficulty breathing...I put on a movie for the kids and had a good cry...a really long, loud cry.

You see, everything that stresses me out normally was up a notch and all I could think about was a better situation...comparison. The study this week has been on contentment and how the tongue speaks from that (or lack thereof) and I realized these bad patterns I have of being discontent. It really isn't that having something better would lead to contentment- it's that I choose not to be content with what God has given me and allowed in my life, none of which is all that bad. And since I choose to focus on what I see as negative, my heart fills up with that and thus speaks my tongue. I come across as negative and difficult to please.

I don't have any real point here except to say that I am praying for God to work in my heart in this area. I found myself getting mentally worked up over something this evening and actually had the wisdom to change my thinking and I even tried to cite a verse. That is huge, right? :)

Gassing

Heard from Rebekah who was wrinkling her nose:

If you smell that gassy smell it was me gassing.

Chili's and On-Base Park

Last Tuesday before we flew out in the evening, we had most of the day to play some more. So, we went to Chili's and enjoyed more Diet Coke (me) and real chips and salsa!!

Josh, Linny, and Sarah

You know who this is...day 3 of this shirt. :)

Sarah chillin' at the amazing Air Force Base play ground

This was a seriously awesome play area

Linny and Sarah are definitely extroverts and sanguines...very fun to be around!

Luke braving the tunnel

Not as excited about the airplane...actually, Josh just bumped his head and he never fully recovered... :)

Isn't he helpful?

And that, my friends, was our Germany trip! In March, we are going to Paris for 4 days! I know you're jealous, just remember how many sleepless nights we endured doing this and some of your covetousness will dissipate.

The Pumpkin Patch & Barn

On Sunday, we went to a chapel service on-base and then my family treated us to a wonderful lunch at Macaroni Grill! One of the best part (for me) was the unlimited diet coke!!!! No one in the world besides the US does that. Sigh.

Josh, me, Luke, and Linny (told you you'd see that shirt again!)

I was really proud of Luke- the previous night he was up from 12:30-3:30, mostly goofing off. With church and then lunch afterwards, he didn't get a nap til 2!!! Poor baby did very well and the church nursery said he was great!

On Monday, we went to a German pumpkin patch. It was picturesque to say the least.

My little pumpkin.

Then, we got to go thru the barn. Josh LOVED it b/c we had this sweet German girl, Britta, show us around and practice her English. We walked in and she said in her husky voice, "Here sleeps the milk cow." Josh was particularly tickled by this and even bought a German t-shirt with a cow to commemorate this special event.

Notice R's reaction. Neither of my children are especially brave. :) Actually, I forced poor Luke to pet the horse and the horse smelled Luke's snacks and "bit" his hand. Luke was outraged. I've probably scarred him for life!