It's a Small World...and we are walking through it!

Fox's first LAN party!

So tonight Vance is in the office, watching online videos of churches similar to ours and how they do worship. I came in and watched a church for a little bit...they got to the announcements and this guy bounds onto the stage. It was my youth pastor from high school. I just sent him an email to say hi! Small world, that interweb.

We have a walking Fox now. He's been taking a few tentative steps here and there for a few weeks. Thursday he decided it was time to get on the walking train. I haven't taken a good picture of it yet. I'll work on that!

But, I have lots of other good pictures to (finally) share!

He's teething again...he's got 8 teeth now, and the drool is excessive.
We've been having lots of fun outside...I bought a bike trailer at a consignment sale, and Fox and Ethan have been loving it!


Fox is really getting into reading his books...


Sandra and Carey and I are doing a little co-op so we can all work a bit. Fox loves having the big boys over, but sometimes has a hard time understanding that ALL sippy cups in the world are not his! I actually managed to get all of them in the same area long enough for a few cute shots...



And the moment passes..One of the things about having three little guys in the house instead of just one, is that things get overlooked that would have normally been stopped right away...enter exhibit 'a', the tissue box...



Snack time!
Momma brought up Dylan's Halloween costume from last year...if it's cold enough and Fox cooperates, we may have the Monkey for MonkeyNinjaPirateRobot....
That's a big if...this is not a happy little monkey!
And now, for the monkey tantrum!

I have a feeling that soon enough he will be throwing King Kong sized tantrums...this child has apparently inherited my temper.


And now for a series of Fox in hats...he will actually consent to wearing them for a few fleeting moments...some of which we managed to capture on camera!




Fox's latest obsession is shoes. It's crazy how well he says 'shooooooes'. He was on cloud 9 earlier tonight...I sat him in the closet surrounded by all our shoes. Everywhere he turned, there were shoes. He finds them in every room...maybe we should keep them more confined!

My Jesus

Warning - this is a complete departure from my usual posts full of cute baby pictures and funny Fox stories.
I'll write one of those soon enough. I've just had a lot of heavy stuff on my heart lately and need to get it out in the open.

I'm writing this while looking at my sleeping son on our video baby monitor.
We are blessed, really, with so much material stuff. I might gripe about the price of cherries going up by $2/lb at Publix, but when it comes down to it, I could still buy them at $4.99/lb vs $2.99/lb and we wouldn't suffer from it.

There's a song that I've liked for awhile now, but recently I've been contemplating what it really means, and how it SHOULD affect my life.
Todd Agnew's "My Jesus" is a seriously hard song to listen to. This link may or may not work, give it a shot.

Which Jesus do you follow?
Which Jesus do you serve?
If Ephesians says to imitate Christ
Then why do you look so much like the world?

Do I look like the world? I probably do. I was so thrilled with the new cute pants my mom bought me Saturday, and I wanted to make sure to wear them to church yesterday since I was singing on stage.

Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the arrogant
So which one do you want to be?

I do spend most of my time with believers. It was a total shell shock this summer when we spent a week with some family members who cuss. Vance and I were pretty uncomfortable with it, realizing we are quite insulated from the 'thieves and liars' that Jesus spent His time with.

Blessed are the poor in spirit
Or do we pray to be blessed with the wealth of this land
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness
Or do we ache for another taste of this world of shifting sand

How many prayers of ours are for the wealth of this land? I jokingly talk about when Daddy wins the lottery and we get out cut, but honestly, we could live without a lot that we have. My attempts at frugality are just that - attempts. I could be a lot more hardcore and survive without the cute cover-up for my bathing suit I picked up at 75% off Saturday at Dillards.

Cause my Jesus bled and died for my sins
He spent His time with thieves and sluts and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the rich
So which one do you want to be?

Who is this that you follow
This picture of the American dream
If Jesus was here would you walk right by on the other side or fall down and worship at His holy feet

Would I walk by? Is Jesus that guy on the corner who needs a shower, shave, meal and a bus ticket? I unconsciously reach over and check that my doors are locked - a sad commentary on how suspicious society has made us.

Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion
Is how you see Him as He dies for Your sins
But the Word says He was battered and scarred
Or did you miss that part
Sometimes I doubt we'd recognize Him

We do picture Jesus with a handsome face. I haven't watched The Passion of The Christ - Vance thinks it would be too hard for me to watch. He's right, but it was harder for Jesus to die, wasn't it?

Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and the least of these
He loved the poor and accosted the comfortable
So which one do you want to be?

Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church
The blood and dirt on His feet would stain the carpet

My toes are pretty, Momma came up this weekend and we got pedicures.
I like to think that Jesus would be accepted at my church. We're definitely very laid-back on the dress code. We can always spot a first-time guest - they're wearing ties and 'Sunday dresses'. But would a shabbily dressed, dirty man be welcomed? I hope so.

But He reaches for the hurting and despised the proud
I think He'd prefer Beale St. to the stained glass crowd
And I know that He can hear me if I cry out loud

I want to be like my Jesus!
I want to be like my Jesus!

The way Todd Agnew really cries out at this part is what hits me hardest. Does my desire to be like Jesus outweigh my desire to be comfortable? I didn't sign up to go to Nicaragua with the team from our church like so many others did. Is it because I'm afraid of getting dirty? Or am I afraid of being too saddened by what I'd see? The stories the team came back with had our entire congregation in tears.

Not a posterchild for American prosperity, but like my Jesus
You see I'm tired of living for success and popularity

I've always said I wanted to be on Jeopardy! - what a better way to be successful and popular!
My priorities need to change - seriously.

I want to be like my Jesus but I'm not sure what that means to be like You Jesus
Cause You said to live like You, love like You but then You died for me
Can I be like You Jesus?
I want to be like my Jesus

Okay, enough of that for now. I'm going to join my family, and enjoy listening to my son's new favorite word - SHOE!

More Milestones...

Fanged Fox is fanged no more. The front two teeth are nearly in. This kid talks ALL THE TIME, with crazy words like 'backpa' (backpack) 'acaca' (avocado) and 'gogoo' (yogurt).
Oh, and he took two steps tonight. HE TOOK TWO STEPS!

(I'm shaking my head...he's growing too fast)

I promise I will post pictures next week...maybe even a video if I'm feeling adventurous!