Kader-Bug!

Kaden makes my heart swell! He gives me tons of moments that are worthy of writing about. God blessed him with a sweetness that I can’t describe. One of my favorite things about Kade is that he is not shy (at all) about loving his mommy! :)

This has been a big week for Kade. After refusing to try and ride a bike without training wheels for several months now we finally persuaded him to give it a go. We were back home in Liberty over Spring Break and headed to a church parking lot. After a few dry runs, he took off!! It was awesome! Kamden, Karson, Bryce and I chased him around hooting and hollering. Since we have got back to the Lake, he has already gotten so much better! He has made it from the condo to the Elementary School (about 1/2 mile) with me running alongside!

The boys have had a lot of questions lately about God, with the passing of Great Papa Woods and Easter. I was attempting to explain the Holy Spirit and frankly I wasn’t doing a good job. I was trying to balance how much to tell without freaking them out….so I was struggling. I had got as far as explaining to them how when we get a feeling that we should or shouldn’t do something, it is the Holy Spirit guiding us. Kade had been quiet this whole time. He is a thinker, just like his daddy. He will listen, reflect, and then finally say something that just blows me away. So true to form, after a while he said, “Mom, I think it is like when I wake up in the morning and someone else is in my brain with me.” He is so far ahead of me. He then tells me how he knows that the other person in his brain with him is Jesus. Ummmm, yes, that is what I was trying to explain. Thank you, Jesus, that I have Kade to help me further grasp your greatness!

My Sweet Kamden

The boys are always saying funny things but every once in a while they say something that warrants extra big laughs. Yesterday Kamden did just that. He has become obsessed about losing a tooth, and I mean obsessed! It has been going on now for about 2 months and was made worse when we visited Nana and Papa last weekend and Nana had sewn him a tooth ferry pillow. He has had a tooth that is not exactly loose but just not quite as tight as the others. As we were getting ready for school yesterday I told the boys to go brush their teeth. After a few minutes Kam came in my room and said, “Mom, I think I know why my tooth is not falling out.” So I took the bait and probed his theory. He explained that he really felt he was brushing his teeth “too well and too often". Slightly confused by this I asked what he meant. So like a smart 5 year old he explained, “You and dad always tell us that if we don’t brush our teeth, then they will fall out. So I am probably brushing them too much and they are too healthy to fall out!” How can you not love the innocence and workings of a sweet young mind.

He made me laugh in the morning but at night he brought me to my knees in total humility. It was about 9pm and we were headed home from church. Bryce and I met at church because he had a meeting, so I was in the van with the boys and Bryce had already headed home in his truck. It was raining and I was tired and ready to be done with the day. All of a sudden the van starts making a weird noise so we pull over and call Bryce. Eventually Bryce gets there and determines that the lug nuts had come loose. As we are getting back in the van/truck to leave (for some crazy reason we all got out in the rain to watch Bryce tighten the lug nuts) Kam stops us and says we can’t leave yet!" It was raining and we were cold, wet, tired and READY to leave. My sweet boy says, “We can’t leave without praying to Jesus and asking him to promise that the tire is safe and fixed.” So in the Walmart parking lot, with rain coming down the Durnin 5 we stood, holding hands, praying to God that the van was safe. As I drove home (in the truck!) I thought about how much I had to learn from Kam’s faith. I so often forget that God is present in everything and that I need him-be it a loose lug nut or a loose tooth. Kamden gets “it” and I pray that I am wise enough to learn from his example. Matthew 18:2-4

Oh, the fun!

Well, we have officially entered the "joke" phase. You know the phase...the one where your kids tell you "knock, knock" jokes that make absolutely no sense and expect you to laugh for hours on end. Apparently, the more jokes that have the words "underwear, toot, and bootie" in them the better. It is pretty amusing right now, but I have a feeling that if we are still in the joke phase in a few weeks, it might not be as amusing!

Here we go....

I have never been the slightest bit interested in blogging or sharing my feelings with the world so for me to be starting this blog is foreign territory. It is hard for me to do anything (including a blog) without having an objective or "mission statement" so to speak. I know it is dorky but that is the way God wired me. So with that being said, I have my reasons for now deciding to blog. For starters, I am bored out of my mind! One would think that 3 young boys would keep me from being "bored" but due to our circumstances I often find myself without much to do. The boys are getting to the stage where I can take 10 or 15 minutes on the computer without all heck breaking loose. My main objective is to archive these years with the boys. I have had numerous people tell me that these years will be over in a blink and it scares me that I won't remember anything. I guess I have this idea that one day when the boys are grown they will find it fun to go back and read about our crazy life and maybe even be able to get a glimpse of how much I love being their mom. The night before each of them were born (I always had the luxury of scheduling their births) I wrote them a letter. I have then continued to write them a letter on their birthday each year and put it in their baby book but it is hard to remember all their milestones, funny stories, and tender moments and put it into a letter once a year. I am hoping this blog will fill in all the blanks that I can't remember throughout the years. So there you have it. My mission is to document and archive this journey as Bryce and I make a running attempt to raise "a few good men".