Happy 2nd Birthday, Jude!

Dear Jude,
You are my heart, little boy.   You melt me in so many ways and don't even know it.  The first year, you were easy and reminded me a lot of your older sister... only a little more laid back.  This second year you have shown me what it is to have a boy and I am in love with it.

I love that you are a bit more serious than your sister.  I love that I have to work hard to sometimes get the laughs and smiles that I so desire.  And over the year, I've figured out more and more ways to get them and I love it!

You didn't get the chance to be my baby for long, but that hasn't seemed to matter.  You are a great big brother and though you've had your bouts of jealousy, you love both of your sisters fiercely.  It's an amazing sight to see.

Right now, you are in love with books and I hope that continues forever.  You are becoming more and more verbal, but still aren't talking a whole lot.  You have phases where your fits about do both of us in, but your sweetness almost always lingers underneath.  You love cars and baths.  You prefer to be outside over anywhere else.  You climb on pretty much anything and everything, but you are also a bit timid when it comes to new things.  Your eyes sparkle when you see something you like and you protect whatever "lovey" is currently your favorite with all your might!  You like to have something of yours with you at all times and it makes me smile. You are such a blessing and I couldn't be more thankful for you!!!!  I may admit this every year, but I was a bit afraid of being a boy mom!  If only I had known how amazing you would be, I wouldn't have wasted any of my time worrying!  You are so precious to me!

Two years ago I met you for the first time.  Two years ago I held you in my arms and vowed to never let you go.  Two years ago I knew you were really mine and I promise that I will love you forever and ever and ever.  Thank you for being my boy!

Happy Birthday,
Mom

Two: Jude

2 Things I Love About You:  (Of course, there are a lot more than 2, but this is in honor of being 2 so that's all I'm going to list!)

• The way you always have 50 million things in your hands at all timest and insist on taking every possible thing with you to bed.
• Your personality... I absolutely adore the way you are all boy-- climbing, rough, tough, into cars, constantly grunting... and I also adore that you are sweet and caring-- you light up when you see your sisters and are always giving me hugs and your daddy head butts!

2 Things I Will Miss About You Being 1:

• Seeing you with your binky.  You still look like a baby with your binky and it won't be around much longer.
• How you allowed me to still carry you around all the time... you struggle to get down anytime I try to carry you these days!

2 Things You Love Right Now:

• Mickey Mouse
• Your taggie (all loveys, but especially your taggie)

2 Things You Do that I Love Right Now Are:

• The way you get sooooo excited when you see me in the morning or after school
• The way you call Finley "Sissy" and Evi "AVEEE"

2 Things You HATE:

• Sharing (especially food)
• Haircuts

2 Things You Like that Are ALL BOY:

• Making vroom noises with everything that moves.
• You climb onto everything that stays still long enough for you to climb on.

2 Words Most Often Used To Describe You:

• Sweet
• Busy

2 Aspects of Your Personality Right Now:

• Obedient... you are super obedient right now
• Busy/Messy... you can make a mess in two seconds flat

Your 2 Favorite People:

• Finley and Evi (can't really decide who you like more)
• Lila

Your 2 Favorite Toys:

• Cars
• Blocks

Your 2 Favorite Things on TV:

• Mickey Mouse
• Elmo

Your 2 Favorite Activities:

• You love to dance!
• Anything outside

Your 2 Favorite Foods:

• Beefaroni
• Squeeze pouches

2 Things You Can Do This Year that You Couldn't Do Last Year:

• Walk
• Face forward in your carseat

2 Things I Hope You Can Do Next Year that You Can't Do This Year:

• Eat without making a huge mess! HA!
• Be fully potty-trained

2 Things You Can Do that I Never Expected You'd Already Be Able To Do:

• Pull the step stool out of the bathroom and use it to get into the cabinets
• Play games on the iphone/ipad

2 Things That Occupy for Long Periods of Time:

• the ipad
• Being read to

2 Things I Never Want You To Forget:

• That salvation in Christ is a complete gift, only by grace, and can't be achieved by doing good works... He is the only One who will never let us down!
• That your Daddy and I love you more than anyone else ever could and that we are more proud of you than you can imagine

2 Things I Hope Never Change About You:

• You are the perfect blend of tough and loving.
• How well you sleep!!!!!!!  You are such an amazing sleeper!

2 of My Favorite Memories From This Year:

• Just seeing you grow as a brother... When Evi was born you were still such a baby that you didn't even get it, but as the year evolved, I have seen you be so caring to her and you love playing with Finley.  It is my heart's desire that the three of you will always have each other's backs and that you will always be close.
• Seeing your face light up when you saw the characters at Disney World.  It was so fun to see you take it all in!

To read Finley's from year 2: click here.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This week in BSF we were studying how Isaac prayed specifically for Rebekah and how faithful his servant was in finding the one for him.  I was able to talk to Finley a lot about how important it is to trust God for her future spouse!  So thankful for such an appropriate lesson on the week of celebrating love!

Here are a few (okay maybe more than a few) pics... unfortunately, my white balance was set incorrectly and I don't have time to fix the coloring, but I still love these pics!

  

This is one of my all time favorite pics of Finley and Jude together!  Love it!

Jude's 2nd Birthday Invitations

I'm busy working on Jude's party so this will be quick!  Here's Jude's invitation this year!  I love this boy soooooo much!

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Snow Day!

We went to BSF this morning in the pouring rain and came out to the glorious snow.  Jude kept pointing and saying "Snow!" "Snow!"  It was adorable because you could tell he didn't quite get why the rest of us weren't as excited as he was!!!!  Finley and Evi were pretty excited too!

 Can't wait to see this one playing in it next year!

The Feet Washers

Yesterday, our church showed a video from the Refuge.  It's an incredible ministry that one of Devin's coworkers is a part of as well as Evi's namesake.  The main founder spoke in the video and said something that I can't stop thinking about.  He said "We don't want to be the provider.  We want to be the feet washers." Or something to that degree anyway.  The whole video was how they were trying to look at evangelizing in a radical way.  To truly be the hands and feet of Christ... to get dirty.  To do the inconvenient.  To love the unloveable by doing life with them.  They have uprooted their families and given up comfortable living to live amongst poverty so that they can love their neighbor who is hurting and broken and desperate.

All my life I have stayed away from the ugly.  I may have dabbled in a mission trip here or there, but I think I have always been more on the "provider" side of serving.  Write a check.  Buy the supplies.  Pray for those who are doing the work.  And while I think those things are essential and are important, I can't help, but think about how Jesus came to wash the feet.  He came to feed the lambs.  He came to give life to those who needed more than just some money and a blanket.  He had real relationships with the least of these.

Devin and I were talking about what being the feet washers means for us at this stage in our lives.  We're not sure.  We just know that we need to be more than just the provider.  Sadly, I see this even in my role as a mom.  I provide the entertainment for my kids, but far too often let them entertain themselves.  I provide them with attention, but far too often raise my voice when they want more of me than I'm wanting to give at that moment.  I provide them food, but far too often get frustrated when they don't eat it or ask for more as soon as I sit down.  I provide them with cuddles and tickles, but far too often let my phone tear me away from time with them.  I want to be like Christ.  I want to make it about everyone else.  I want to be more than just a provider...  I don't know exactly what to do with that, but I can't stop thinking about it.

Matchy- Matchy

I should preface this post by saying that I think it super cute when other people dress their kids alike, but for some reason, I never thought it was my thing... until I had two girls and then I admit that the coordinating only side of my personality gave way to the "maybe it would be cute for them to match" side....  Beidses the older sis in our family would like nothing more than to constantly match her younger sis!

Regardless my girls are 3.5 years apart and matching clothes are difficult to come by and truth-be-told, I  don't think it's so cute considering how different the two are right now.  However, I bought Evi this dress from Target back in the early fall and then found it on clearance in Finley's size just a few weeks ago and decided to scoop it up.  I really didn't think Evi's dress even still fit, but it did so matching sister outfits became a reality!

Evi, however, made it clear that she is an individual and isn't at all thrilled to be matching her older sister. HA!