Flannel Graphs, Day 1

As a family we have been wanting to do more service projects and have also been looking for a way to help out missions organizations. Through a friend we got connected with an organization called Vision Beyond Borders. One project in particular really stuck out to us, Flannel Graphs. Follow this link to learn more about it: Flannel Graphs. For those of you who do not know, flannel graphs are flannel backgrounds with figures and other shapes made out of flannel cut out. You then use the people and the backgrounds to tell a bible story. We have volunteered to cut out our first set and mail it back to them. This set will then be sent to a missionary somewhere in the world for them to use in their ministry. This graph set is given to them free of charge. We are partnering with them by giving our time to cut out flannel graph sets. I hope to post regular entries so you can follow our progress. If you are interested in helping, there are three main ways you can help.

1. You can pray. These flannel graphs can be a powerful tool to spread the stories of the bible to people around the world. It is true that a picture is worth a 1000 words and visuals definitely help tell the stories of the bible.

2. You can volunteer and help cut out flannel graph sets. To get started go to http://www.visionbeyondborders.org and click on the Contact Us link and they will get back to you.

3. You can donate to cover the cost of the materials for the flannel graphs. To do this you can go to http://www.visionbeyondborders.org and click on the Contact Us link and they will let you know how to donate.

Thank you for reading this and check back for regular updates!

Joyfully Serving Christ, The Bush Family

Today our sweet girl Armandina Grace is four years old!

We are so blessed to have her in our lives!

She had her traditional breakfast with daddy this morning. She had pancakes, bacon and chocolate milk. For lunch we had some leftover homemade pizza from yesterday, and her favorite "extra" cottage cheese, and she chose apples as her fruit. For dinner daddy could not be home so we ate junk! We had mac and cheese, cheddar bunnies, and juice drinks. We played little people, had a tea party, and watched part of Disney's Cinderella. Daddy got home around 9 and we sang, ate cake and ice cream, and opened her presents! She got TWO real Care Bears! I think she had a great day.

We had a wonderful spring break!!

Gary had Thursday, Friday, and Monday off to give us almost a week of Daddy time. We decided this year to get a science center membership instead of a zoo membership for Christmas. Through a friend we also discovered that through a hotel rewards card you earn free rooms. You get one free just for signing up and we had not used that yet. So we decided to go to Columbus and spend Thursday at COSI and then stay overnight in a hotel! The kids were great on the drive and it was nice to not be in a rush to get someplace at a certain time. We ate when we arrived and then did a few of the exhibits. No offense to the amazing city of Cleveland but this science center is rated #1 for a reason! We all really enjoyed it! I liked that there were a lot of families there so the adult to kid ratio was wonderful. (Though in those situations I also wonder if kids are better or worse behaved with parents than with teachers? Hmmm...) Everyone was polite, and the center was very well staffed. I love that the kids are like sponges at this age. I love these types of trips because I consider myself very below average when it comes to scientific knowledge! The information is right there for you and so much of it is hands-on. We left when they closed and fought a little traffic to get to our hotel, but it was an easy drive. Our hotel room was wonderful! The kids just love hotels and so do we. Too bad they cost so much money! :) I made us sandwiches and snacks for dinner and then we went swimming at the indoor pool which the kids also loved! After baths Gary was drying Grace's hair and Esther climbed into the tub!! It was one of those parenting moments where you correct while you try to refrain from laughing!! Here at home we have a stand alone shower and a claw foot tub Grace can't even get into herself so it never occurred to me Esther could climb in! She was so proud of herself and then sad that we were not so impressed. After an active day it took the kids awhile to wind down but once they fell asleep they slept really well all night. They got up at 6:30 as usual to use the restroom and I made them go back to bed! I said this is vacation! Lay down and rest! We got up around 8, had breakfast and eventually got on the road. I had hoped to possibly stop at P. Graham Dunn on the way home and do a tour but I did not think of it in time to get us there in time for a tour. SO that goes on the list of future field trips. We did stop at the Amish style buffet and ate way too much.

Josh and Lia were in town for Easter so we went to the Bush's and got to visit with them a little extra. I was glad we did that rather than trying to get up and get to the science center for a few hours before the drive. It's such a blessing to get to visit with them and for all of us to be together as a family. Sadly, none of us took any pictures this visit so when we see them again later in the summer we will have to make SURE we get some taken!! The service at church that night was wonderful- minus the constant noise of my three kids disrupting everyone- and I enjoyed it very much. I knew I would be serving in the nursery on Easter so I was glad to get to enjoy a worship experience, plus we had communion. Tyler showed just how much he looks up to his pops by joining him while he passed the communion plates. I was (of course) embarassed, but it did show his heart which I treasure. Oh how that boy challenges me! He did not obey me as he was not sitting quietly in his seat, but his heart needed encouraging!

That night I made sure to get us mostly unpacked, and get the carpets scrubbed and then I fell into bed exhausted! Saturday brought T-ball for the boys and cleaning for us girls. The final scramble to declutter, clean, and prepare for hosting Easter is as fun as it is crazy. I truly love hosting Easter and having everyone here together. Having so much family willing to travel here and spend the holiday here means the world to me! Josh and Lia came over around lunch to spend some time and then the boys decided to go play golf with their dad! ACK! What about the stuff I needed from the store?! Oh well! Lia and I did some work in the kitchen and visited which was one of the highlights of the weekend for me. I love you Lia! She's just such an amazing woman. She's like a female version of Joseph- everything she touches, God blesses! She's such an encouragement to me and I just love the NC Bush's! I love that the four (or 7) of us can spend such quality time together. They were headed out to spend some time with Mom and Dad (Steph worked till mid-afternoon) just as my mom was arriving which worked out well. Gary headed to the store (finally!) and we got busy on what we could accomplish. I love when my mom is here! We cleaned and organized more and got the kids toys cleaned up, we made the cakes, potatoes and the eggs, had dinner, set the tables up, filled the plastic eggs, watched the Cosby show and were in bed by 10!

Sunday morning was the usual scramble. I never remember Gary's being on worship team means he won't be here for hte last 40 minutes of the getting ready process. Then I wasted a half an hour hunting through the house for dress socks for Tyler only to remember when I got downstairs that I had bought him sandals!! Between Gary and Mom the kids were ready to go long before I was! She also made the salad, got the potatoes ready and I'm pretty sure we both did the bathroom floor. :) I try not to think about Easter Sunday without her.

Mom served in the nursery with me and we had 7! That's a huge number for us! I hope that means that the service was full and went well. I hope they recorded the sermon so I can listen to it soon. When we got home we had some relax time since everything was ready, and that was nice. Joshua, Shannon, Victoria, Grandma and Grandpa Cline, Aunt Toots, Pap, Gary and Stephanie all joined us and we fellowshiped and ate and just had a wonderful time together. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and we had more than enough food (yay!) and the kids loved the Easter egg hunt! I am excited for next year when Victoria will be running with them! She was crawling all over and loved the eggs! She's so sweet and I love spending time with them! I am blessed to have TWO amazing and wonderful sister in laws! Like Lia, Shannon challenges and encourages me and I love that we are getting to know each other better. I love you Shannon!! After everyone left Gary, mom and I watched the newest Harry Potter on DVD and it was so awesome! I loved it in the theater and loved it that night too. I can't wait for July! :)

I was sad that evening to realize we had not taken ANY family photos and also NO photos of the three kids, or the four kids. :( My dad and Grandma hope to come Saturday, so I think we'll all wear our Easter clothes again and get pictures then. :) It won't be Easter Sunday, but it will be April 2011!

Monday was just a fun family day. We did the library lunch together, the guys had t-ball in the afternoon. It was just relaxing and enjoying the clean house. :) What a wonderful weekend! Thank you Gary for taking the days and not going into work, and for only working a little from home! Thank you Lord for a wonderful family and time to spend together.

~When Journey's Intersect~
Please continue to pray for the Mills Family!

We have been so blessed by this family. We began attending Grace Community shortly after we moved to this area. This is Gary's parents church and though I felt we'd always be tag alongs, I agreed to go because we love Dan Michaels. Dan is one of the pivotal people in Gary's spiritual life. He was Gary's youth leader. He was a teacher, mentor and example in a time in Gary's life when young people often times turn away from faith and look for another path. He was such an impact that Gary insisted on only two things when we got married. Number one, that we marry each other, and number two, that Dan marry us. It was my insistence, of course, that we have a wedding! :) We also agreed to attend Grace because through Gary's parents, we knew so many wonderful families who loved us already. Being new to the area, we deeply needed the love and support of a church family- and this family is immediate.

3 John 1:5 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you.

In our time at GCC we got to know Dale and Mary Mills. Our friendship with them began because we just clicked. I also got to be very good friends with their daughter Melissa who is such a blessing in my life. Over the years Melissa has moved away and gotten married and is about to be a MOM! We don't get to spend as much time together, but we are still close. We still spend a lot of time with Dale and Mary too. And it's through them that we've also bonded with Micah and Kara. Gary bonded with them before I did through worship team. When they were in town they'd often join the worship team as they are both incredibly talented musicians and singers *jealous smile*. I never knew much about them except that they lived in Cleveland and loved music and the Lord. I learned later that Micah was very skilled/interested in areas of technology. Gary could tell me about things they had discussed (also with Dale) and I could not understand a word of it!

A little over a year ago we heard that they were going to be missionaries in Africa! WOW! How cool to know real life missionaries. What a blessing it was to see their journey unfold and to see their obedience to such a calling. So as they planned we saw Dale and Mary prepare to let them go. They were scheduled to leave last August (?) and I felt a sadness that we never got to know them as well as we wanted to. Like Dale and Mary, and Melissa (and now Chris) we just seemed to have this natural bond.

We prayed for them and were just amazed and inspired at their willingness to leave behind literally everything to follow God's calling for their lives. Then we found out that Kara was pregnant! I was thrilled (because I love babies) and I also knew that they would wonder what God was trying to say. As with everything they handled it graciously! The call did not change- they would still go to Uganda. They changed their leave date and we continued to get to know them when they were in town, and via Facebook. Through God we just felt the need to keep this entire family in prayer and love them. Let me tell you, you don't just love the Mills'- you get loved and prayed for and fed right back! :) Micah and Kara moved here after Abie was born and we got to spend more time together... and the bonds of real relationship were formed. Our journeys have crossed in such a powerful way.

Philippians 1:3&4 Every time I think of you I thank God for you. I have joy in my heart every time I ask God to help you.

I watched just under two weeks ago as Dale and Mary said goodbye to their son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter ~our dear friends~ as they followed God's call half a world away to Uganda. What a powerful testimony! What a challenge to us as a couple and as a family! Mary has been urging me from the beginning of our friendship not only to pray for my children to come to the Lord and follow Him, but for myself for strength to let them go. Ouch. I have always known that I wanted my children to live for the Lord and follow his calling WHEREVER it takes them. But that knowledge had not hit my heart in quite the way it has in the past 6 months. I believe God has called Gary and I to great things for now and the future and those things are not easy. I also know God has a great calling and plan for my children. I desire with every bit of me for them to follow that calling because ultimately they are not mine, they are HIS. Oh but how hard it is to give them over to HIM!!! I've always prayed for wisdom to grow myself so that I would be equipped to lead them. I've always prayed for strength for myself and the courage to let them go. I just understand it in my soul more deeply now. And yet in that depth I know nothing can prepare me. Ultimately I will stand only on Christ's strength when God calls my children just as I do now as he is calling me. When I tell people we homeschool (or the new term I love ~home educate~) sometimes I get the "WHY?" and usually I get the "what about..." and always I get the "HOW do you do that?" I usually jokingly answer "not very well" because that is usually how I feel! I must remember daily that it is by Christ's strength I do anything.

Deuteronomy 11:18 &19 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

It is only through Him that I can succeed in his callings for my life.

It's only through Him that Micah and Kara have the strength to take their newborn to another continent.

It's only through Him that Dale and Mary can say "until we meet again".

It's only through Him.

Exodus 15:2 “The LORD is my strength and my defense ; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

Today Grace has asked Jesus to be her Lord and Savior.

As a mother I'm filled with joy at this moment as today marks a beginning of what I hope is a road Grace will take impacting the world for the Kingdom. It's also a reminder how short my time is to build that foundation of faith she will take with her beyond this house. And another gentle reminder from my Heavenly Father that he is in control.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

We have a hope and a future= all of us. No matter what journeys intersect with ours, It's only through Him.

Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.

Another Child For God's Kingdom!!!

It's with great excitement I share this post! This afternoon after a great family discussion in the van Grace expressed to us that she wanted us to pray with her to ask Jesus into her heart. What an indescribable moment to kneel beside my husband as he gave Grace words to repeat to accept Christ as her savior! And to see her always beautiful smile shine on her face even brighter. She's always talked of loving Jesus and the Lord. She's always wanted to learn more and been eager for us to read to her from the Bible and learn more. She's always expressed interest in spending eternity in heaven with Jesus. It's just amazing to be a part of her coming to a decision of eternal assurance! What greater joy is there for a mother?

Esther playing on the slide.

Grace climbed all the way to top!

It is hard to see in this picture but Tyler built a track from the door to the garage to the door to the basement. It is fun to be watching the kids this weekend as Heather gets to spend some much needed time away with her college roommate Lori. We had a great dinner with Grandma, Pops, Pap and Uncle Bob yesterday. It was neat to have 4 generations of the family together just enjoying each other. Today has brought a lot of playing as you can see in the picture.

We have just finished lunch and are playing some more. It is exciting as a Dad to see the kids get a long so well together and really enjoy playing with each other. It is almost time for a kids show and then nap time. I will try to post more picture later!

--gb

No more baby in the house.

When Tyler turned six I saw it as a transition towards him becoming a big boy. Time to encourage his independence and think through my instincts. As a mom it's my instinct to protect and shelter, and it's time to fight that. It's time to push him towards Daddy and the adventure of boyhood even more. It is something I need to read more about (sorry mom, I know you hate when I read too much parenting advice!) and understand. Especially since he's surrounded by girls all day! Girls. That brings me to the purpose of the post....my girls. We had some friends over last week to enjoy a whole weekend of basketball and fellowship. All of us, big Ohio State fans, I decided to pull out the kids' Ohio State gear. Tyler has a sweatshirt, Grace has a pink jersey shirt that still fits, and Esther has grown into Grace's old cheer leading outfit. So I assembled them (coughing and all) and caught a pic. Just as it does every day, it hit me that Esther is no longer a baby. She's a toddler. She's amazing and in some ways it seems she's always been here. I wonder at how I ever allowed myself so much agony over the decision to have her. They will always be my babies... and I will always love them more than they will ever know, but there certainly, is no longer a baby in the house.

For some reason this Psalm has touched my heart the past 3 weeks. God is so GOOD!

(emphasis mine)

Psalm 19

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

² Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.

³ They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.

⁴ Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. ⁵ It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. ⁶ It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.

⁷ The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. ⁸ The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. ⁹ The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the LORD are firm, and all of them are righteous.

¹⁰ They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. ¹¹ By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward. ¹² But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. ¹³ Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.

¹⁴ May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

After a long overdue email to a dear friend I realize I have also neglected this blog. *sigh* Something is always getting neglected isn't it? Lately it's been the blog and emails. I've been listening to some podcasts called "Simplify Your Life" through Midday Connection on Moody Radio. I didn't buy the book, but I do listen to this professional organizer who is on every other Monday. It's inspired me to get organized, stay organized, purge where I can (she'd never approve with what little purging I have done- but it's something), make meal plans and have a better run home. I like that it's kind of done in chunks. Anyways, that, and improving our school time, family time, and working out have been priorities.

We are all doing well and loving life and thanking God for his blessings. We keep our family and friends in our prayers, even though we don't stay in touch well.

Just a final word- our dear friends Michah, Kara and Abigail Mills are leaving April 6 for Uganda where they will be missionaries. Please follow their web page/blog, and consider how you might support them through prayer, and if God leads, financially.

Tyler finished his ENTIRE Sparks book for AWANA tonight!

We are so proud of him!

He's learned over 20 verses and the books of the New Testament. He now gets to start the book over again, and re-learn them. This has been so awesome for our family because we're all memorizing them!

Happy New Year!

I realized this past weekend that I needed to get going here if I was going to get a post in this month. But then, of course, I never sat down to compose something! We're finally over our illnesses of the holiday season. I'm thankful every single day for the blessing of Gary's job, but when we are sick, I"m even more thankful! I am also thankful that God allowed us to have such low paying jobs early in our marriage. I truly believe it helps us to be thankful and mindful of our blessings that we started out so low that things like insurance are looked at as huge blessings rather than something we're entitled to. Anyways, we're better!

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. It's so nice to get to see family and friends. We missed some family due to illness, but overall it was wonderful. I just love having Gary home full time too! We did our annual viewing of all the extended versions of Lord of the Rings which was fun. Gary's still playing soccer every week and loving it. He's on a new work out routine- P90X- like everyone else in the world. He started mid-December and really seems to like it. He's crazy. The kids are still loving AWANA. Tyler will be done with his book in the next 2 weeks so i'm anxious to see if we just start over or if there is another book he can get. He loves it. Grace still cry's most days and does not want to go, but once she's there she does really well. It's been good for her and it's given me some extra one-on-one time with Esther on the nights Gary is busy in meetings or worship team practice. Sometimes we get some shopping done with only one child! It's so much faster that way! it didn't seem faster when we only had one! Esther is doing really well, she's SO tall! She's already growing out of some of her 18 month onesies and she's only 15 months! She's running all over the place and just cute as can be. She's still a loving cuddler, eats anything, and sleeps well. She's still only got one tooth and doesn't talk much. She loves her siblings though- you can really tell by how she interacts with them. They do well with her and include her for the most part but when they go off and do their thing, she's content to just play alone or come find me. Grace is in full swing training to be a mommy. She plays house and dolls and wants to help me with all of my household chores! It's so cute! I had to force Tyler to learn things that Grace asks to do. She's really making great headway with her academic skills too. She wants to learn but I really have to approach her differently because her learning styles are different, and she is (if possible) even more sensitive than Tyler! Yikes! I do hope Esther stays laid back...

My mom came this month and we had a day out just the two of us. It's amazing how shopping is different when you don't have to have a bag or stroller, when you don't get interrupted and you don't have to worry about anyone breaking anything. It was wonderful but I was glad to get back to my sweeties! They LOVED their day with daddy so it all worked out.

Mid-January we finally took down our Christmas decorations and I decided it was time to get back into the full time swing of things with school. This month I've been just filled with joy at watching my kids learn. Even today I'm seeing just how quickly they catch on to things and how they are improving. Today was a big day for me watching Tyler. His maturity when he's "on" is just amazing and his reading has improved more than I can even describe. When our Sonlight curriculum arrived in October he was getting frustrated (and probably bored with) Teach your Child to read in 100 easy lessons so i transitioned away from it and then shelved it for awhile. He was reading simple words (CVC) so we went with grade 1 readers and LA instead of K. I saw no point in re-teaching him letters and sounds we've been doing for years. The LA is a bit hard for him, but the readers are right on. Just enough challenge that he's learning, but not getting frustrated. Well, today he asked me to get 100 lessons back out because "we need to finish that book mom" 4 months ago a lesson in that book would have taken 15-20 minutes- longer if he was being difficult about it. Today we did two lessons in about 15 minutes. He just flew through it and then asked to read the next story from his regular book. I"m just so excited! I love to read, and always have. I don't expect him to be the book worm I was, but I had fears that he'd always HATE reading and that any learning activity that required reading would be like pulling teeth. For awhile it was and I'm sure it will be again in the future (probably tomorrow in fact) but for today, it was FUN! Yay! I think he's starting to see that he reads things automatically in life when he knows the words and as it's becoming more automatic and natural, it's not so scary and so much work. So we are plugging along and enjoying it! Not every bit of it, but in the long run, this is SO RIGHT for us right now!

Yesterday I stopped at green Farms to get some veggies for salads this week. I have decided that they consistently have the best produce and it's just as cheap or cheaper than any of the other stores I frequent. I've come to feel I'd rather have my veggies last even if I have to pay a little more, but most times it's cheaper. I'm even willing to make that extra stop to ONE MORE store. haha! Anyways, I was embarrassingly excited when I walked in and saw they were selling half-bushels of apples for $5!!! A couple looked much older so I took the bag that looked the best and was shocked when I got home to find all 40 apples were huge and in great shape! I really thought the bottom ones would be extra questionable. :) So today Tyler helped me peel apples and we made applesauce. The kids were playing zoo when I had them start this project so they decided we were making the food for baby monkeys who can't eat regular apples yet. Grace was a child visiting the zoo and Tyler and I, the zookeepers, taught her about the animals in the zoo, what they eat, how often, and how we prepare the foods. It was so hysterical to watch them interact for this! I was able to get some discussion in there about apples and how they grow and how we prepare them for human consumption too. Tyler was happy to quietly peel while I showed things to Grace ( Like the star inside the apple) that he had seen before. Usually he's bored and wants to go play or teach her himself. I think they are being extra well behaved in hopes I will make them Apple Crisp tonight. And that's fine by me! Maybe I can stretch it out until tomorrow night....

Click here to view our Family New Years Letter.

Merry Christmas! ~With Love from the Bush Family~

Thanksgiving with Papa Tim and Grandma Sandra. We include some very "Christmas" type activities in our celebration!

Uncle Josh and Aunt Lia!!!

Assorted Photos~November 2010

~My dad was kind enough to come over and put some outlets outside for us so we could hang icicle lights. I also caught him with two of the kids for a quick photo. Esther, our climber, loves getting into and out of the little chairs we have and she's so proud of herself! She also likes to stand on them but obeys when we tell her to sit. We made applesauce/cinnamon ornaments and I let the kids decorate them with glitter glue and "sparkles" I had in my craft drawer. It was one of those gorgeous days where it was almost 70 degrees so we did our messy craft outside! Tyler still loves trains so we went to Sebring to see the model railroad they have there. It was a big hit! Hopefully we can make this a tradition since it occurs in November- before the big holiday rush. The last photo is Tyler at Grinders on his Birthday for his special birthday dinner- Burger Bites with ketchup and pickles and smiles. ~

Halloween 2010 This year it turned out that there were no work parties and we completely missed the trick-or-treating in Alliance. We saw some information about a church near our house doing trunk or treat so we planned to go there. They had probably 25 vehicles, all decorated and we collected candy from each one and voted on our favorites. Tyler voted for the Cleveland Browns, Grace voted for the Barbies, and Esther (via Daddy and Mommy) voted for THE Ohio State Buckeyes. Inside they had photos, crafts and snacks. It was a wonderful time and even though it was cold, the kids loved it. Enjoy a few assorted pictures of the kids at home, and out.

Tyler is SIX!! It's hard to believe that is has already been six years since we became parents! Tyler is a wonderful boy who loves the Lord. I pray I can say that 12 and 30 years from now. He's learning to read and while he's not so fond of school (because of the writing), he does enjoy learning things and new experiences. He's very helpful, kind to his sisters and excellent at making up stories and playing pretend. Math, History and Science are his favorite subjects right now but he also loves listening to any stories we read. He continues to be very sweet and outgoing with both children and adults. He enjoys AWANA and his Sunday School class very much and loves to tell me stories of the funny things his friends say and do. I love that he has friends but still loves his sisters and enjoys playing with them and teaching them things. Not always things they should be learning, but he takes seriously his role of older brother and protector. He's got a temper and is into full time negotiating. Direct obedience is not his strong suit but he's learning. I often find myself in prayer confessing to the Lord and thanking him for sending me a real picture of (dis)obedience. Daily I remind Tyler that just as I have to obey the Lord without knowing why, he too must learn to obey without knowing why. I often want God to fill me in on his plans, and He rarely does. For my own good, he asks me to obey him, to do things I don't always want to do, and to trust him- the same things I ask of my children. Oh how parenting shows us where we need to grow!! Tyler is an amazing blessing and we thank the Lord daily for him! We are so blessed to be his parents and we pray that God gives us the strength we need (and the patience and consistancy) to prepare him for life, and help him grow in his faith.