Leading Little Hands

      Welcome 2020! Welcoming a new year is always exciting and new; like a journal that has crisp unblemished pages. I always feel prepared to make resolutions and set new goals for myself; I don’t always keep my resolutions and goals, but I do enjoy making them. Maybe setting a resolution for keeping my resolutions...what a novel idea.       I’ve even talked with the kids about setting a goal and I think they are considering it. I gave a few suggestions and we talked about what goals were and which ones they could accomplish, so we will see.       Isaac, our big FIRST grader, is one of the funniest boys around. He still has his own way of pronouncing various words, like “combvine” instead of combine and “facipier” instead of pacifier. He’s the cutest kid. He loves to play Minecraft and, for whatever reason, watch other kids play Minecraft on YouTube Kids. I don’t really understand that one. He also enjoys explaining things to us and can...

Wow! So apparently I have forgotten how to write on this blog. It has only been a solid year since the last entry. Yikes.       So...not much has changed around here, I mean except for Isaac going to kindergarten, Brooke starting preschool, the kids each taking a trip with Nanner and Big Guy to Florida, and our newest addition being born. So, yeah, not much.       So Isaac enrolled in kindergarten (!?!) already. I mean he was literally just born and now he's going off to school like a big boy. He had a slightly rough start to school, which honestly wasn't a surprise as change and new transitions are hard for him, but he ended up loving kindergarten. He loved his friends, he loved the free choice stations, he loved recess, but most of all he loved his teacher Ms. Stevens. She was unendingly patient with him and caring. She helped him learn how to work with others and function in a school setting. He also had a wonderful school counselor, Mrs. Newman, who...

This has been a whirlwind of a summer! It's crazy how one summer can be so many things at once: busy, quiet, calm, predictable, wild, and now...over. The kids began the summer with swim lessons from the town of Speedway. The swim lessons were held at Speedway High School each weekday for thirty minutes. Brooke was apprehensive before the lessons began, she has never had her swimmies of in the pool before and was concerned about getting in without them. Brooke went from dreading the lessons and crying while getting in the pool to loving her lessons. This change was directly related to the fact that she developed a small crush on one of the swimming teachers. Isaac loved the lessons, he took off his swimmies last year and has never looked back. He spent a good deal of time playing with the other three boys in his group level but did learn the front stroke. This summer also gave us time to visit: the Avon Splash Pad, the free summer movie offering at the Danville Royal Theater,...

Well, we rang in 2018 in the Lawrence household with two of us, Brooke and Me, sick with the flu. Brooke had a rough morning, but she bounced back pretty quickly and was better by Sunday afternoon. I was sick/under the weather for a few days after. Brooke recovered and now both kids are sick again. Both with fevers, coughing, phlegm, hacking, and snotty noses. It's pretty frustrating. They get sick, then get better, then get sick again, then get a little better. This flu season is brutal all over the country. So many sick and worse. I will be so thankful when this flu season is over! Right now I am home on a vacation day (Presidents' Day) and Isaac and I are writing letters and numbers. He is always resistant at first when we are doing schoolwork, but he generally comes around. I cannot believe that he will be ready for kindergarten next year. I am not quite ready for this season of life!  A boy and his dog Elsa - using her freezing power on Mommy Isaac is...

      Brookie is the funniest girl! She has a love/hate relationship with inflatables people put up in their yards. During the middle of October, people decorated their yards with Halloween lights, fake tombstones, "skeletones" and those large inflatables that are tied down to front yards. Some of these inflatables, or "blow up thangs", as Brooke calls them were cutesy (Snoopy, a cat sitting on a pumpkin) and some were scarier (Frankensteins, witches, monsters).  Brooke has a fascination with all of these inflatables we saw...I would certainly categorize it as a love/hate relationship. She desperately wanted us to drive by them, and then stop in the middle of the street so she could see them in detail; however, when we stopped, she said, "I don't like that. That's scary." As we drove away, she cried, "Stop! I want to see." It was an interesting conflict she had going on.       Well, after she saw the October inflatables, people began to...

In a decade, I would love to have: *Finished writing my fiction books *Published at least one of my books *a better grasp on being more organized  *matured to be a stronger, more godly leader for my children *matured to be a stronger example of a godly wife to my husband *grown in my relationship with Jesus *memorized more Scripture

Sixteen years ago, a classmate stopped me after our college English class to suggest we get together to revise our research papers, which were fast approaching their due date. We stood outside the Mary Cable Building, which isn't even standing anymore, on an afternoon in late September when he asked if I was free to "study." We decided to meet up two days later, after our next class, and go to my house. As we headed to our cars, I still remember telling him, "Just follow me. And just to let you know, I don't speed in school zones." I still don't speed...in school zones.  I can't remember a single detail of our afternoon; except that we didn't get out our papers one single time. The evening ended with pizza and a walk around my apartment complex. Just after sundown, we stopped next to the pool.  He sat down and pulled me to him and he kissed me. This evening began a relationship that has lasted all this time. A little after two years after ou...

Recently my Bible study group for young moms began a new study called it  by Becky Thompson. It is about cultivating our marriages in this busy time of work and life and motherhood. We just started the book, but I am really enjoying it. Sometimes it is so difficult to remember that Eric and I were partners before we were parents and our relationship can't simply be shoved to the back burner just because we have two toddlers and are busy and tired.  We have to remember in the midst of the busyness and laundry, the dishes and the dirty floors that we must try to meet the needs of the other person. We have to remember this and not just  focus on the kids; because let's face it, they don't need me to be joined with them at the hip every single second.  Don't get me wrong...our kids are crazy important and they need our attention and love; we just need to make sure that we are carving out time for each other too. 

I am simply amazed that it is already the middle of July. I mean...July??!!? I will absolutely admit that this has been the best summer I can remember on record...at least of my adult life anyway. The days have just slipped by, mostly great days to be sure. The kids and I have spent days playing, reading, swinging and running around outside, and doing schoolwork. Isaac is working on learning his letters and numbers by sight while Brooke is learning her shapes. We've had such a sweet summer. I can admit that I'm not ready for it to end.  We paid a visit to the Children's Museum to explore Dinosphere; we have a little boy who is obsessed with dinosaurs. It was the cutest thing, he took his dinosaur book with him and told he wanted to find out if the Gallimimus hunted in packs! He is so smart.  Isaac and Daddy went to the track for qualifications. Isaac had a great time, although he was wiped out! While the boys had fun at the...

Is it really possible to live simply in a world where less is more, except, of course, when more is more? The world screams "You CAN Have It All!"  It is your right!   It tells me that I can be everything I want to be; all the while having everything I want to have.  I can live in a fast-food world and have a runway-worthy body.  I can click on Pinterest and pin decor galore, holiday gifts, and kids' crafts.  I can go to my mailbox and pull out the latest issues of Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping and Martha Stewart Living and have the rooms, the look, the decor displayed on the pages.   And not just that I can have all these things, that I should have them.  I can live in a world where nothing should be denied; there is no such word as moderation. If I don't have a cover-worthy living room and a table set for exclusive company, with beautiful china and hand-embroidered linens,...

December was quite the whirlwind. At the beginning of the month, B was sick with an ear infection, I took her to immediate care in Avon after church. The doctor told me if she has another one I needed to talk to her pediatrician about possible tubes. That is certainly not something we want to do. About a week after B's trip to immediate care, Isaac woke up from his nap complaining that his ear hurt, so I took him to immediate care and he received antibiotics too. Just after that,  B developed a deep, nasty cough and runny nose.  On the 16th, Isaac has his Christmas performance at his preschool. It worked out so well, I was already off work because I was having surgery that same day at 1:00 p.m. in Danville. We all went to his preschool and it was such a sweet event. The kids sang quite a few songs and he even danced and rocked out to a few of them. It was so cute! I'm so glad I was able to be there.  After leaving his preschool, Mom and Dad took Broo...