Moments with Wiley

Some cute recent Wiley moments:

* When he saw a man with long hair ride by on a bicycle he asked, "Is that a girl or a girl-man?" (Needless to say, Shane was quick to explain that it was a man with long hair and that sometimes men have long hair too.)

* In the car yesterday, Wiley reached over to Evie, tickled her toes, and sang, "The itsy bitsy spider, went to the market." (So cute that he got his spider and little piggy songs mixed up!)

* Every time Wiley watches the Sesame Street movie, Follow That Bird, he cries when it gets to the part where Big Bird flies away on the plane (regardless of how many times he watches it). He keeps wanting to watch it though and we just hug him each time, while he cries as if he's lost his best friend, and explain to him that it is just pretend and Big Bird will return to Sesame Street at the end of the movie.

* Out of the blue the other day Wiley just up and asks me, "Mommy, are you good at sports?" I replied, "Not really." His response, "That's okay, Mommy. You just gotta keep your eye on the ball!"

* Shane is always teaching Wiley that it is his job as a man to protect Mommy and Evie. Today while potty training, Wiley had an accident. After cleaning him up, I asked him what he should do next time he needs to go potty (expecting him to say somthing along the lines of, "Go and potty on the toilet") His answer was, "Protect you and Evie from the potty!" (At least some things are sinking in :)

Here are some potty training photos. (We bought a huge tarp and spread it over the living room floor. It's definitely paid for itself already!!!) He is doing a good job overall though we do have accidents from time to time. This morning in nursery, he stopped playing on his own and went to tell his teacher that he needed to go potty and he held it until he got in the bathroom. Way to go, Wiley!!!) We are so proud of you and we love you very much!!! What a big boy you are becoming!

Baby Dedication and Picnic

Today was Evie's baby dedication at our church. We are thankful to the Lord for lending this precious little girl to us for a brief time, and we seek Him for the wisdom to raise her. We pray that we would "raise her up in the fear and admonition of the Lord." We pray that her heart would grow to love God more and more with every passing day!

Our family was able to be there, including my Grandfather. What a special blessing that Evie's Great Grandaddy was at her dedication. This is the husband of my late Grandmother (the lady who Evie and I were named after).

After church, we went and had a picnic in the horseshoe at the University of South Carolina. My younger sister and brother went with us. Here are some photos from this great time together - gorgeous weather!!! Thank you, Lord.

We tried to take some photos while there. We managed to get a few good ones, even with Wiley not really wanting to cooperate. Why is it that it's much harder to get a good photo of a 2 year old than a baby? Shouldn't the opposite be true?

Thought I'd post a few of the crazier ones since this is really how the "photo shoot" part of the picnic went.

Wiley kept saying he wanted to do "funny pictures" so this is his version of a funny pose apparently - and no, I don't have a clue what he was doing!

This is pretty accurate for what it's like trying to get a decent family photo!

Evie is Almost 4 Months

Evie will be 4 months on July 14th. She has grown a lot this month and experienced a lot of firsts:

First Laugh - The night before Father's Day I was bathing her. She was in a playful mood and so I called Shane in to come and be with us. He was making kissing noises at her and she laughed right at him. What a Father's Day present for him. (She's so sneeky. She must've been secretly working on her "present" for him.)

First Rolled Over - Tuesday, July 7, Evie rolled over on the couch but she was sort of in the crevice of the pillows so we weren't sure to count that or not. Friday night she rolled over on the bed when my sister was watching her but again the mattress was slanting down. Today after church, she was lying on the floor on her blanket and rolled completely over from her back to her stomach so it's official!

First Found her Hands and Feet - She found her hands awhile back but has just recently found her feet. She is constantly grabing her left foot with her left hand and pulling it up and down. Looks like she's practicing her cheerleader moves again!

First camp experience, road trip and July 4th - See next post for some of these details. The night of July 4th we enjoyed watching a fireworks display out of Wiley's bedroom window. Don't think Evie cared about the fireworks at all, but Wiley sure did!

First big showing of her personality - She has become so much more active and animated over the past few weeks. She is a very happy baby, which we are thankful for, and a very loud baby too! I've never known another baby to be so loud when she is happy. Quite the little squealer!

We are going to have her baby dedication next Sunday at church. Looking forward to it!

Thank you, God, for a wonderful 3rd month!

Camp Willow Run

The week of June 28 - July 4 we got to go to camp. Shane was invited to speak for the high school summer camp at a great camp in Littleton, NC. This is a camp that we've been to several times before with our own youth when we lived in NC as well as for speaking engagements. This was Evie's first official road trip, first time leaving the state, first camp experience, first boat rides, lots of firsts...





(Road trip there to meet Shane. The kids did great there and back!!!!!)

Shane went on Sunday, June 28 and my sister Katie, the kids, and I all came up on Wednesday night. My sister very graciously agreed to come and spend the week with us to help me with the kids in the car and at camp. Thank you bunches, Katie. I know it wasn't all pleasant but I'm so glad to spend that time and experience with you!!! S hane did a wonderful job preaching for the students every morning and evening. He also celebrated his 33rd birthday while there! Here's some photos from our time there. (The camp has 2 rows of train boxcars that have been converted into bunkrooms. We always stay in the boxcar reserved for the guest speaker. It has a nice living room/kitchen , bathroom and 2 bedrooms. Wiley and Shane shared the room with 2 bunkbeds and had fun "camping" together while Katie, Evie and I shared the other room.)

We went on two boat rides while there. When we arrived, Shane had arranged for us to take a sunset boat ride as a family. Very awesome! This was the smallest life vest I'd ever seen. Evie loved the boat rides and both times ended up being "rocked" to sleep before they were over!

Wiley had fun swinging on the low ropes course. Evie celebrated her first July 4th. She was wearing her special little July 4th outfit (It's hard to tell but it's a cute little outfit with red, white, and blue ladies bugs with little stars on the front pockets. She looked really cute, but in the photo it just looks like a red crayon exploded all over her. I think we could hear the song playing, "The lady in red...")

I painted mine and Evie's toenails to match. Wiley and Daddy had to have a photo of their feet taken too!

"God, I want to be just like You, 'cause he wants to be just like me"

Here's a conversation between Shane and Wiley from the other day:

Shane: "Wiley what are you playing?"

Wiley: "I'm going to work."

Shane: "What kind of work do you do?"

Wiley: "I preach."

Shane: "Where do you preach?"

Wiley: "At Camp Wiwo Wun." (Camp Willow Run - see the post above)

Dear God,

As the Christian song says, please help Shane to be like you since our son so desperately wants to be like him. May we both model Christ for him in all we do and say. We pray no matter what "work" you will one day call Wiley to that he will glorify You and "preach" the truth of Your Word with his life. Amen.

Fun Night Out!

Shane and I had a blast on our anniversary. Here are a few photos from our night out. The first was taken before we left. (It is rare nowadays to get any photo of the two of us dressed up so nicely. I had so much fun getting to dress up and eat out at such a nice restaurant. I definitely took this for granted before kids came into the picture. Thank you, Shane!)

We took the second photo out on the balcony of our hotel room the following morning before checking out. We had a wonderful night out and fun morning together sleeping in and getting breakfast together before heading back home. (The only not so fun moment was being awoken in the morning because someone was singing at the top of her voice in the stairwell next to our room. After an hour of this, I finally had to go and ask her if she could dial it down a little. Fun times!!!)

The highlight of the night for me was when Shane carried me over the threshold of our room, just like on our wedding night! Glad to know that after 10 years and 2 kids I haven't gained so much weight he couldn't lift me!!! :)

Happy Anniversary, Shane!

Today is mine and Shane's 10 year anniversary! We are spending the day together as a family and then tonight we are getting a sitter and spending the evening out. We are going to dinner at the restaurant we went to for our 1 year dating anniversary (and we haven't been back since so I'm really excited). Then we are staying the night at the same hotel and even in the same room where we spent our wedding night. It's going to be a wonderful evening of remembering old memories and making new ones! I love you Shane. Thank you for a wonderful 10 years.

In honor of our 10 year mark, I thought I’d list out 10 of the things I love most about you.

1. First and foremost has to be your love for Christ. It is out of this that your love for me, our children, and others flows. It is out of this that you are the man you are.

2. Your love for Christ’s truths. You are passionate about basing your thoughts and decisions on His truths and you love nothing more than getting to share these truths with others.

3. You are my teacher. I have learned so much about my God through you. You have taught me a right understanding of who God is. When I read things I wrote years ago, I am amazed at how theologically inaccurate and shallow I was. I see how much I’ve grown in my understanding of God and his truths over the years and I know this is because of your teachings in my life. (I look forward to growing in Him more each day with you.) Thank you for teaching me about the glory of God! Thank you for your patience with me and my lack of understanding so much of the time. Thank you for taking so seriously your role in being responsible for my spiritual growth and for seeing that I am taught Biblical truths. Thank you for sharing with me what God teaches you. I love you so much more for all of this!!!!!!!!!!!

4. You are such a wise and Godly spiritual leader of our home. You always seek the Lord in matters of our family and home. You seek to honor and obey God in all your decisions and so I can trust in you without worry because I know you have sought Him first before making a decision. What a beautiful example this is to our children too.

5. You are a man of humility. You’ll never know what an attractive trait this is to me! My whole life, the biggest turn off to me in a man has been arrogance. Thank you for being a man of humility and for allowing God to work that out in your life. I know you would be the first to say that you “mess up” a lot of the time. You have no idea how much God uses those times to make me love you all the more because in those moments you come to me or our kids with a humble heart and ask for forgiveness. This is one of the two greatest ways you show Christ to me.

6. You are a man of sacrifice. This is the second greatest way you show Christ to me. You always put my needs and desires and the needs and desires of our children before your own. This never ceases to amaze me.

7. You are a man of integrity. This is a truly rare trait to find in people. I am so glad to know that I can trust you with anything and everything. I am so thankful God has made you a person of integrity. I am thrilled to know that our children will be raised by a father that models integrity for them and desires to instill it in them.

8. You are such a hard worker. You have always sought to provide the best for me and our kids. You are a wonderful provider. I can never thank you enough for working so hard to ensure that I can stay home with our kids. I appreciate so much that you see the importance of my calling as a mother (in fact, you are the one who often reminds me of this). Thank you for believing it is important for me to be at home with them and for working hard to make this possible. I love your work ethic and am again grateful that you are modeling this for our children.

9. You are a wonderful Daddy! You love our kids passionately! You are such a great father and you truly love spending time with our kids. I love watching you play with them, sing to them, tell them stories, tickle them, wrestle with them, and entertain them. I also love watching you teach them God’s truths. Thank you for taking the time to love them and to “raise them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord.” It is so hard watching them be disciplined, but I know you do it out of love for them and your obedience to God and I thank you for this. It is so tough at times, but you are diligent to stick with it. Thank you for teaching them to honor and respect me. Thank you for teaching Wiley what it means to be a man (and husband and daddy). Thank you for Lin-Chin!

10. Your smile and laugh (silent though it may be at times :). There’s nothing I love more than laughing with you!!! I think this will always be one of the most enjoyable aspects of our relationship. I am so thankful that God gave me a husband who I can laugh with. I love your sense of humor too. You can make me laugh like no one else. Our kids are so blessed to have such a fun and funny Daddy. Somehow you manage to get my quirky and goofy humor. You have made our life together so enjoyable and entertaining. I can always count on you to put a smile on my face and laughter in my heart.

Happy Anniversary, My Love! I'm looking forward to celebrating our life together with you today!