September

Ah, Colorado, how I miss you!!!Jeff and I had an amazing trip - not just the uninterrupted conversations and freedom to eat only a soft pretzel for dinner if we so chose, but also the beauty of the state.  I can definitely see a place for our family there someday:)

We've been back to school for a couple of weeks now and honestly it's been challenging; more so than last year when we were just trying to figure the whole thing out!  Ryan is certainly in a very high maintenance season right now:)  He is demanding, angry, bossy and so often frustrated by his own inability to communicate what he wants, that he takes it out on all of us!  The blessing in all of this is that God has SO been working on my heart - in a huge way. The Holy Spirit is seriously keeping my mouth shut and my heart open.  I have been much more patient and kind with my children.  It is NOT working any miracles with my children, other than I know that  I am not operating out of anger which was manifesting because I felt out of control!  Once God laid it out, that I am not a puppeteer of my kids, it clicked.  Loving discipleship of my children is my job!  Not being a dictator demanding certain behaviors regardless of their hearts and personalities.  So, in my quiet time I've been working on my personal mission statement (it's been great for me to clarify my roles and how I want to live those out) as well as spending time praying and reading the bible.  Finding scripture that helps me define who I am at this stage in my life has opened my eyes to God's purpose for me!  Let me tell you what a big deal this is for me.  All of my life I have struggled to feel significant and like I mattered.  Obviously getting married and having children brought some of that into focus, but at the end of the day it only mattered in terms of who He designed me to be.  His plan for me is the ONLY thing that can give me a lasting, real value. 

OK, so enough of the heavy stuff;)  Here are some funnies I wanted to record for posterity:

*Will didn't want me to cut up his waffle, but the piece was still pretty big and I asked him how he was going to eat it.  He replied, "with my big mouth!"

*Ryan will ask where something/one is and when he gets the answer he'll respond "Oh yeah" or if he asks for something and it's all gone he'll say 'Oh man"

*For some reason there has been a bit of talk around here about dating???   I've been trying to explain what Jeff and I expect about that time in their lives etc.  So Will was asking when he could date and I was reiterating our answers.  He then said that he could go on date when he got married (I'm guessing b/c Jeff and I say we go on dates?) and Jack pipes up, "Well yeah that's b/c you'll have your own woman!"  What in the world????  So Will says "Duh" which I am really not sure where that came from and I tell him "your silly" and he shoots back, "no I'm not, I'm Will!"

That's all she wrote...