Happy Anniversary to Us!

Four years ago, I married my best friend.

He still puts up with my oddball behavior and strange sense of humor.

Give the man a medal.

I love you like a fat kid loves cake, babe.

If At First You Don't Succeed...

...try another, longer, more complicated alternative with several more steps.

Anyway, here he is!!

Just try to look at that face without wanting to squish those cheeks. I dare you.

If you just tuned in, please remember to read the post below!

Baby D is 15 Months Old!

My beautiful, wonderful boy is 15 months old. I am absolutely reeling at this realization. Holy cow! I'd love to let you see a picture of his handsome face, but blogger still is not allowing me to upload pictures from my computer. So, I guess I'll just have to let you know what Baby Butters is up to. Oh, and if you're wondering why I call him that, as I'm sure anyone who has heard it does, it's because when we started shopping for him when I was pregnant, Sweet Pea would point to different new things and say, "Dat's baby butter's." She's gotten much better at saying "brother," but it was really cute when she wasn't yet two.

And speaking of adorable pronunciations, allow me to translate some David dialect for you.

Cuh: cup
Cow: cow (duh)
Bock: book
Sah: sock
See-ew: shoe
Bock ball: football
Tahs: toes
Daddy: Could be Dan. Could be me.
Sits: sister
Nooooo: nose
Cap: clap

He also shakes his head vigorously when he doesn't want something, or doesn't want to do something. I'm not sure when he picked that up, but it usually occurs when I try to get him to eat something other that fruit, yogurt, or bread.

I don't think we're quite ready to sign him up for the Mercedes Marathon yet, but he is getting pretty good at navigating his way around the living room and kitchen as a biped. He's pretty proud of himself for it, too. :)

What a blessing he is! If I could hold him and kiss his chubby little cheeks all day, I would. Alas, he won't let me. He's busy and has stuff to do that doesn't involve being hanging out in Mommy's lap.

Dramatic sigh.

Hopefully, I'll be able to share some new pictures soon. I mean, who doesn't want to gush over that precious little face??

Baby D's First Haircut

You know how some moms get a little sad when it's time to cut the baby boy's hair, or as my good friend Sheryl said, "cut the baby off?"
I was NOT one of those. I have very few sentimental bones in my body (see? I am like Mary Poppins!) and I just was not concerned at all about Baby D losing his baby locks.

That is, until they were gone.

Now, he doesn't look like Baby D anymore. He looks like Big Boy D. We're not going to call him that, though, because that makes him sound like some one-hit wonder, cheesy rapper in the early nineties.

I'd post some pictures, but blogger isn't allowing that to happen right now. Sorry.

Oh, well. He's still my sweet, smart, loving little Baby D, with or without the locks that some woman at Disney World referred to as, "pretty girl hair."

I love this little gentleman.

Happy New Year!

Welcome, 2013! We're looking forward to what you have to bring!

This year, I have some great intentions. I'm not calling them resolutions because it makes me feel like a bit of a failure when I resolve to do something and don't follow through, and I don't handle failure very well.
So, I'm calling them intentions. It sounds a little less...I don't know, binding?

I intend to purge my house of clutter. I HATE clutter. We have entirely too much stuff in this house that hasn't been used in over a year, and therefore probably won't ever be used again, and that's just ridiculous. If we're never going to use it, it doesn't need to be here.

I intend to be better about keeping in touch with people in ways other than via Facebook. I don't like to talk on the phone, but a little face-to-face time would be great.

Most importantly, I intend to pray with my family every day this year. I know how vital this is to our family and our relationship with Christ, as well as our relationships with each other. This isn't just a sentimental, "awwww, isn't that quaint" kind of thing. I really believe that we need to make an effort to pray together, and not just before bedtime and before meals. We all need to be more intentional about having conversations with our Creator, don't we? I mean, isn't that why we were created in the first place?
So, no more not praying with my babies or my husband because there's something "good" on TV. No more Pinterest before prayer.
I could talk a blue streak about prayer making us stronger and helping us to be more compassionate people, but I'll save it for another post.

So, faithful five readers, blessings to you and on your 2013. I hope this year brings you love, hope, joy, and peace.

Merry Christmas

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
 ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
 ¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
Luke 2:8-15

May God's favor rest with you today. May you have peace in your hearts and in your homes.

Then, go. Go and see what it's all about. Commit yourself to seeing this thing that has happened, every day, and revel in the peace it brings you.

Merry Christmas from the Head family.

"And We Were Happy To Have It"

You know those people who get offended every time anyone phrases something differently from the way they would personally do it, or flip out when someone's tradition doesn't meet the standard of what is "correct" in their own bubble?
I try not to be one of those people. Everyone is different, and what's right for me and my family may not be right for you and yours.
However, if you are one of those people, you might be offended by this post. I'll bet you won't stop reading it, though, because the easily offended types tend to seek out reasons to be offended.

As I said before, I try not to be easily offended by certain phrases. I don't even know if "offended" is the best word to describe how I feel about this, but it just...bothers me.
As is common for this time of year, I've been hearing a lot of radio callers seeking assistance for friends and family members who are having a rough time of it financially. That's a very nice thing to do, and it's awesome that the radio stations are willing to help out. What irritates me, though, is when they ask for help so that their friends' children can "have Christmas," or so that they can, "buy Christmas." I do not limit this to radio callers who are trying to be the hands and feet of Christ by helping their neighbors. I hear it from people I know when they are going to Target to "buy Christmas."
I'm not stupid. I know they mean Christmas presents. But, I feel like they need to actually say presents.

If you think I'm about to launch into a "Christmas can't be bought" rant, you're absolutely correct. It can't. No one can take a credit card to Macy's or amazon.com and purchase peace on earth. No check written can cover the cost of God's only son coming in the form of a dirt poor carpenter's kid to save the world from itself.

If you really want someone to "have Christmas," I suggest beginning with introducing them to Luke's gospel account of Christmas.
 Then, watch a few movies with them. First, A Charlie Brown Christmas, then Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and finally, A Christmas Carol. To "have Christmas," a person would need a sense of the love and peace that are supposed to accompany the holiday. He or she would need to see friends working together to make a simple, little tree embody the spirit of Christmas in spite of the rest of the world insisting that only bigger, fancier, and more will do. You would need to make sure they understood that, "...maybe Christmas...doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more." And, of course, he or she would need to see how inportant it is to share with those who have less than we, because if we hoard everything for ourselves and make judgments about who is worthy to receive our gifts, we end up bitter and alone. But, that little baby in the manger was born to help us turn ourselves around, so it's never too late to learn to love.

I would also recommend watching the Christmas episode of Little House on the Prairie. Do you remember that one? I think it was the show's first season. The Ingalls family was waiting out a terrible snow storm in a little cabin on Christmas Eve. They had each other, but not much else. No gifts, little food, and it was bone-chilling cold. Then, along came Mr. Edwards, trudging through the frozen woods with icicles hanging from his beard, singing carols and bearing gifts. Were his arms laden with toys and new clothes and a giant ham?
Nope. Each child got a small tin cup, a penny, and a peppermint stick. And they were THRILLED!
Do you remember your grandparents telling you about how Santa would fill their stockings with an orange, some nuts, and maybe a piece of hard candy, and then follow it up with, "and we were happy to have it!"
No? Too young? Is it because my grandparents were actually my great-grandparents?
Whatever. Anyway, my point is that I can't think of very many modern children (or adults, for that matter) who would be excited to get an orange for Christmas just because it was a gift, which means that someone was thinking of them.

I wish we could get back to that. When I was a kid, there was always this sense of anticipation and joy in the weeks leading up to Christmas. I guess it was a little about the gifts, but that wasn't all of it. I knew there was a Cabbage Patch Kid or a My Little Pony coming, and I was excited about it. What kid wouldn't be? But, it was more than that. There was something about knowing my old toys and clothes were going to other kids who didn't have as much as I did, something about knowing I was going to get to see my cousin (hey, that's a big deal when you're an only child. Just ask her. She's one, too.), something about seeing my parents act as if the gift I chose for them was the greatest thing they had ever seen, that made it special. The music, the lights, the Nativity at church, and the extra hugs in Sunday school made the story of baby Jesus just a little more real.

Now, I feel as if Christmas has become a crazy mess of what-do-I-cook-and-who's-coming-over-and-we-have-to-be-at-this-house-on-that-day-at-this-time-and-if-I-don't-get-so-and-so-exactly-what-she-asked-for-she's-going-to-throw-a-hissy-fit-and-what-time-is-the-Christmas-Eve-service-again?????!!!!!

I don't want that. I want my peace back. I want my joy back. If this is what grown-up Christmas feels like, I want to be a seven-year-old again, just for the Christmas season.

Here's a picture of some people "buying Christmas" on Black Friday:

And, here's a picture of some (OK, fine they're fictional) people, "having Christmas" in their little home:

Who looks happier to you?

Maybe it's time for a little less "more," and a little more being happy to have it...whatever it is.