Year: 2011 (Page 4 of 50)

kiddo update

December 1, 2011 / Michele Minehart

I haven’t done one of these for a while and I have a fear that the grandmas might disown me if I don’t hop on it. So here’s what the wee ones have been up to.

Baby C – 4 months

She is a SWEETIE. Smiles and giggles.
She’s been wanting to sit up more lately, either in the couch propped with pillows or a bouncy. Sometimes she’s laying flat and you can tell she’s trying to pull upward. Soon enough, little one!
We were finally on a great pattern of eating (every 4 hours) and sleeping (2, 2-hour naps plus 7-7 nighttimes). Then a holiday happened. Apparently some cousin told her that sleep wasn’t the great deal her mama keeps telling her. But hopefully we’ll be back on track soon.
She’s grasping at toys and enjoying play time. We put her on a mat (we call it the cat mat because she swats like a kitty) and she’ll pull and play with the toys above her.

Miss M – 19 months

Words, words, words – oh my word, the words! She’s repeating virtually everything. She even does her own 3 word sentences, like “thank you daddy” (and not even mimicking – she does it after getting something at the dinner table) or “night night buckeye” (she’s playing with H’s buckeye toy that he takes to bed).
The speaking has also helped her express her wants and dislikes. Right now H is trying to convince her to go potty with him and she’s telling him no.
She’s also getting big enough to hold her own against a picking brother.
We have a shoe problem. She loves them. She’ll change them multiple times a day. And no shoe is off limits – she’ll wear mine or H’s as often as her own (no, not in public. I’m not that bad).
She’s currently wearing the big girl undies but we really haven’t made much progress. Mostly out of a laziness factor of her mama’s. But we’re getting there. The sitter has been super with us and is very encouraging for M to go potty when the big kids go.
I can’t help but think she’s got a double dose of brains. She just seems so smart. Always knowing what’s going on. The sitter agrees that she’s wise for her age. This could come back to bite us.
She loves her dolls – putting them in diapers, feeding, burping them and walking them around.

H boy (3 years)

He’s quite the chattering, reasoning machine. Which involves a lot more explaining. We’re not as easily able to order him around like we used to be.
But, in terms of 3 year olds, he’s extremely good-natured. He’s easy-going and just wants to enjoy others. Like his daddy.
He’s currently into tractors, or any other mode of transportation that can pull a wagon. The key is the pulling. It’s a big deal.
We’ve finally moved out of a diaper for naptime and we’re hoping for more bedtime progress. He got up at 4am to go potty, the first time he’s ever woken and got out of bed for a potty-related issue. Steps in the right direction.
Today, while home sick, he watched his first full-length movie, Happy Feet.

So, that’s us in a nutshell. Look, we’re in a nutshell.

it’s not what you do, it’s what you do with what you do.

November 23, 2011 / Michele Minehart

Some people watch something amazing form and say, “I love that. I’ll find a way to create a version in my own life.” Others see it and shake their fists at the heavens wanting to know why it didn’t happen to them.

I’ve heard in a number of messages this week that “God doesn’t rain cash from heaven.” and “Work is God’s means of blessing his people.” (Genesis and Corinthians – 2nd, I believe). It’s not works-based salvation. But it’s participation in kingdom living. Plowing up the earth and dropping in a seed so that God can make it grow.

The things which we are thankful for this season may appear to have materialized out of no where and perhaps by miracle, they did. It’s a possibility. But if that’s so, you need to be thankful for miracles. But I’m making room for a thankfulness for the ways in which God grows a blessing: seeds of faithfulness.

My gratefulness isn’t for self-sufficiency; not at all. It’s for the privilege of participating in God’s work. For the invitation to be co-laborers. That when we see good in the world, we can say, “how will I bring that home?” and then we work the ground to see what happens. We have no idea what color or shape it will bloom, but we have a sure hope that it is beautiful.

Thankfulness for family and friends includes a gratitude that they’ve put forth the time and energy to develop a loving relationship. Appreciation for material blessings includes the energy and ability to do the work which helped to supply the need. These things, too, are a blessing from God. Undeserved, but richly poured out.

We can be thankful blessings exist. And we can be thankful of how they were brought into existence – through God’s hand, extended out and inviting us to join in.

Perhaps if you’re not thankful, you’ve not accepted the invitation. You’re sitting alongside the pool but can’t figure out why you’re not wet. Dive in. Swim. Kingdom living isn’t a spectator sport.

quick trip

November 21, 2011 / Michele Minehart

Want to drive me batty? (I know Dad – “it’s not a very far drive”). Here’s a quick checklist of how to do it:

1. Ask me to do a relatively simple task, which I’ve never done before and haven’t received proper training (aka step-by-step, color coded directions), such as “create a Christmas card in photoshop” or “take a decent, artful picture of your kids” while presenting the knowledge that you have a handful of friends that can do said task in 10 minutes, while it’s taking me 3 days.

2. Tell me these efforts are going to save me $10

3. Ignore me – repeatedly. While looking into my eyes.

4. Shut down multiple lanes of traffic at a time when I am running late.

5. Walk around the clothes basket heaped with dirty laundry in the middle of a narrow hallway. Better yet. Jump over it.
6. Fail to follow simple instructions, such as “attach or paste resume HERE.” Bonus points for typing in “I’ll bring it to an interview.” Because you’re not going to get an interview.

Year: 2011 (Page 4 of 50)

kiddo update

it’s not what you do, it’s what you do with what you do.

quick trip

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