Like Father, Like Son

Egg Hunt 2010: Take 1

As is the tradition of this time of year, we celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior by stuffing brightly colored plastic eggs full of instant teeth-rotting materials, "hiding" said eggs in 2-inch grass, and encouraging our young ones to get as many and as much as they can faster than anybody else so that hopefully they will become the "winner" of the prize egg.

At least, that's the lecture that my husband gave to me when we ended up on the Easter aisle at Wal-mart the other night at the end of a luxurious date. Love my man. :)

In good fashion with the commercial agenda, though, I packed up E this weekend and traveled to my home town for a really sweet little egg hunt that one of my high school friends' mom does each year. Last year, we weren't able to make it, so I was really looking forward to the "reunion" aspect of this little emerging tradition. And I wasn't disappointed. My mom even blocked off her very full tax season schedule (gasp!) to be able to be there. Trust me...it's a big deal for her to do that!

Looking at all the cameras, one-by-one, and saying "Cheese"

(none of the other kids care)

Look at all these kiddos!

Surveying the land of eggs

"Mommy, whatcha doin'?"

*love*!

The Gift of Giving

Each year, my parents are way generous givers at Christmas. Each year, we always talk about it and about how we should instead organize a family project and do something "really meaningful" with our money instead of just using it to give things to each other. Implying, of course, (though definitely unintentionally), that giving gifts to each other isn't as meaningful.

And sometimes it's true. If we're honest, many times gifts aren't all that meaningful. Sometimes they're given out of obligation. Sometimes items get regifted in an effort to save money. Sometimes, the gift becomes the idol, and the sacrificial, selfless meaning behind a gift is entirely lost. Been there, done that for sure!

For some reason, though, each year our whole family is back around that Christmas tree giving gifts to one another. I think I know why...and it has something to do with the fact that my parents truly take pleasure in finding those gifts for their children that reach out and connect with us, that show their children that they truly take delight in us, that speaks that they know us both on a deep, heart level and also on a lighter, what-kind-of-things-make-you-smile level.

One of the things my parents seem to delight in giving to us are those rather "necessary" things (necessary being a relative term, of course) in life that just are sometimes a bummer to spend hard-earned dollars on. Like...

When I was in high school? Cool clothes.

In college? Expensive shampoo and conditioner.

As a wife? Starbucks!

And as a mom? Diapers. Always diapers.

This past year, my parents gave me a gift that would otherwise be beyond my budget but has since motivated me to do something I haven't been able to do as a mom: running. Now, ask me in high school if I would ever jump up and down over a jogging stroller and I would've given you the perfected, classic eye roll. Today.....well, that thing is priceless to me.

Thanks, mom and dad, for understanding and living out for me the picture God gives us in Luke 11:13 of how a (don't take the evil to mean more than what the scripture implies) parent willingly gives good gifts to their children. Maybe we'll make it around to a family project one day...but because that's what God lays on your heart, NOT because it holds more meaning!

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” -Luke 11:13 NIV

Together Again

After nine L-O-N-G days with little-to-no communication with my husband due to the inaccessibility of internet and very little down time, I now have a very direct, face-to-face line of communication with him again!!

E and I have been talking all day about her daddy being in an airplane, but if you asked here where her daddy was, "Work," was the only answer you'd get. (That's the place she always says he is if he isn't home.) The moment she spotted him at the airport, she let out a huge squeal, "DAAAADDYYY!" and ran to give him a big hug. And silly me left my camera in the car!

She almost couldn't keep herself from talking the whole way home. Several times I had to ask her to be quiet for a minute so mommy and daddy could talk (up until that point, she kept getting louder and louder in order to be able to be heard over our conversation).

God was so good to us while we were apart - he sustained us and kept me unusually busy enough that it was difficult to find time to think about how much I missed him. And because of the timing of it all, we are going to be able to spend the majority of this Thanksgiving week foregoing work and reconnecting as a family again.

Thank you, Lord, for bringing my husband and E's daddy back home to us safely and for providing for our every need and many of our wants during the time he was away!! Thank you for amazing family and friends who loved on us and supported us through this past week (ou know who you are!!), and for providing us with a Thanksgiving break that will allow us to recoup and reconnect. And most of all - thank you for doing all these things for us in order to draw us nearer to you and teach us to trust you in good times and in bad times. To say you are good doesn't even scratch the surface, but it's simple enough for my human mind to comprehend, with the hope that you know my heart's prayer of gratitude for the way you measure out extravagant blessings on our family.

Instant Gratification

We kick-started our Family Times tool today with a little note that I stuck in E's lunch bag. Like I said yesterday, I really have no expectations for how much she is going to glean from these things right now- the point for me is mostly to go ahead and begin habits that she grows into, and to not wait until she's already formed habits of her own that don't allow for opportunities to reflect on God's providence and provision for our lives.

But on the way home tonight from dinner, I heard these little words coming from the back seat,

"Mommy, I s-h-a-r-e with Bo. S-h-a-r-e. Special. Share with Bo. Sweet. Share, sweet."

And about halfway through agreeing with her that, yes, sharing with Bo was really sweet - it hit me. The note. Why didn't I start this the first day she was alive?!?!

Family Times

E is - *sniff* - getting a little bit older every day. Though I LOVE to see the growth in her, it's almost like drinking water from a fire hydrant right now...she is changing so rapidly it's hard to keep up. Whereas three months ago she had barely broken English (and lots of Chinese), she is now starting to speak in completely intelligible sentences. Three months ago she was slurping apple sauce from her fingers at the dinner table; tonight she refused to eat without a fork. We've gone from choking on apples (no matter how small) to eating chopped pieces without peeling to eating slices with the peeling to eating straight off the tree and now back to demanding pieces without peeling because she's decided she "prefers" it that way. She potties in the toilet on command (leaving this mama with no choice other than to suck it up and delve into the world of potty training before I miss my glorious window of opportunity).

All this surge of understanding has prompted me to once again raise the bar for how intentional we are being about sharing Jesus with E. Though she's probably not quite yet ready to grasp the full understanding of some of the things we'll talk about, I think we're ready to start having some dedicated "Family Time" to learn about some of the lessons the Bible has to teach us. Dr. Tripp calls it "Formative Instruction." I certainly am not suggesting that we are going to teach E that we only talk about Jesus at certain, structured times - that's not the goal at all. I'm just, as a first-time mom, trying to figure out what it all looks like for our family to get to know Jesus, with the help of some wisdom from other parents and spiritual leaders who have gone before me.

This month, we are starting with a tool called "Family Times," published by the reThink Group. There are certainly some things in it that are way beyond E's scope for understanding right now - but one thing for certain is that I don't ever want to underestimate how much she is capable of grasping about God. There are certain things included in the set - like note cards that you can write a little note on to send in your child's lunch or leave on their breakfast plate when you leave for work - that I wish I'd started last year even. It's never to early to let your child know how and why you think she is special.

One thing I hope never to forget, though, is that the command that God gives in Deuteronomy 6:6 is the precursor for the one He gives in 6:7. First is the need for me to hold his commands in my heart. If it's not my faith, then I can't give it or show it or live it for my children. They are certainly not going to want anything that I claim to believe in but don't choose to follow in my deeds. If the faith that I have isn't living and breathing before them, all the books and tools and curriculums I do to help them get to know Jesus and be a good person is only going to leave them spiritually dead.

Lord, thank you for the amazing grace you have given to me! Thank you for dying on the cross and saving me from the death that I deserved. Give me Your strength to live out each day by walking in Your love, under the watershed of Your grace. May the things that I strive to teach E about you only be bolstered by the life of faith that I live out before her, and in the places where I fail to meet up to Your holy standard, please help me to humble myself before her as Your grace shines through to meet her wholly and perfectly when I cannot.

Blessing Near Brasstown Bald

My parents finally did something this summer they've been wanting to do since they first met each other almost 30 years ago: they bought a house in the mountains on a lake. God's blessing over their lives, mixed with a downturn in the economy, gave them an opportunity for an incredibly sweet purchase in the North Georgia mountains, and we made our inaugural trip this weekend.

I am so blessed to have the parents I have. Not only have they passed down a spiritual legacy to the next generation, they are now also adding to that a physical legacy of a "resting place" - a place where friends and family can meet for many years to come.

Though it was a short visit, the weather was beautiful today, so we journeyed over to Brasstown Bald - just a short car ride away - to take in the view. It was well worth it! Because it was such a clear, beautiful day, you could see the skyscrapers in Atlanta off the south side of the tower. If you look closely in the last picture below, you can see the shadows of the big city in the background - towering over the mountains in front of it. The best part is that everything that man created in that city doesn't even compare to the beauty of God's natural creation in the rest of the picture!!

Grandparents and a Two-Year-Old

It's been a week full of grandparenting around here! We travelled over the weekend to see grandparents in South Carolina, then on to grandparents and great grandparents in North Carolina. Lots of fun, lots of sweet sweet memories, and lots of "2"-ish behavior. LOTS of it.

Thanks to access to TV (a luxury we don't offer at home), E has developed a crush on Blue, the canine star of the preschool show, Blue's Clues. I have to admit that I am encouraging it a little, as I am about to need some heavy incentives for potty training, and Blue is much more tolerable for this mama than Barney or Dora (and conveniently available via YouTube). I'm also working in a little Veggie Tales on the side, but since I'm guessing that Veggie Tales underwear is a little harder to come by than Blue's Clues, I'm hoping that the enjoyment of maybe both will stick around.

Words are beginning to morph into real phrases - not just the crazy jabber that we've heard up to this point. Some of my favorites from the weekend are most certainly, "Grandaddy, I want ice cream!" and "No way! Are you serious?" (a phrase she hears often from her daddy).

And, to my total embarrassment, she now points out the sign for Starbucks when we are driving down the road and says, "Coffee! Coffee, mama?" Yeah, that's nice...

A Seaman's Story

We spent some time on Monday morning with my husband's dad's dad (E's great-grandaddy Bost) and his wife, Jenny. When we went out for lunch, we somehow got on the topic of his history with the U.S. Navy during World War II, and I sat with a mouth open-wide as he told a story of how he - as an 18-year-old - not only survived a torpedo attack on the USS Donnell, a destroyer en route to Europe, but then also went on to join the forces in the attack on the beaches of Normandy.

At the time of the torpedo attack, he should have been asleep in his assigned bunk. Instead, he had traded bunks with another soldier that was on duty. If he had been in his assigned bunk, his life would have been taken along with the lives of the 29 other men that day. Instead, God had other plans.

He went back home after the war, back to his mom's house (who had signed a waiver for him to be able to join the Navy at the age of 17 at the time of the draft), back to his preacher to find out just why God had spared him his life that day. "I don't know why he chose to allow me to live that day," he said very candidly as we sat around the table.

Ohhhh...but I do Grandaddy Bost. I'm sure there's a million, but I've got living proof of one perfect little reason why God spared your life that day.

Fall Festival at the Farm

Trying to stand up on the Giant Pillow

Sliding with Daddy

Riding on the "Cow Train"

Playing in the "Corn House"

(A playhouse filled with dried corn kernels)

Bouncing all the leftover corn out of my pants

Sitting on a hay bale decorated as a pig

Petting the donkey

Feeding the goats

Riding the pony

Riding the train

Playing in the pumpkin patch

Sacked out!!!

I think we've got a Bost Family tradition on our hands, folks!

From the Mouth of Babes: The Five Pillars of Islam

We had dinner with some of our very best friends tonight, who have three boys, the eldest of which is 9 years old. He's a kid that is so wise beyond his years, and has a humongous heart for the Lord. All of the boys do.

Tonight we were sitting around the table and H (the nine-year-old), was giving us a lesson in Islam, sharing with us some of the things he's been learning about the five pillars of Islam in his class at school. As I tuned in to what he was saying, I learned this:

1. Muhammad is the messenger of God

2. Muslims must fast during the month of "Ramada"

3. They have to give "Iams" to the poor

4. They pray to god ("little g") five times a day

Honestly, I got so tickled I didn't even hear what he said the fifth one was. I was also praising the Lord for the obvious Godward-ness of this little one's heart.

E had some really sweet times with the boys too. She absolutely adores their youngest son to pieces; they've even come up with their own little nickname for each other. My heart melted tonight when I turned away from cooking to spy one of the boys stroking E's hair and reading a book to her on the floor. I'm looking forward to E having three "big brothers" to be there for her through this life, and I love that E has such incredible examples of the heart of a Christian boy.

Where You Go I Will Go

My cousin, K, married her best friend today. It was probably one of the sweetest, most natural movements into holy matrimony I've ever witnessed. My dad performed the wedding, and honestly wowed us all with the way he allowed the Lord to speak through him and bless the couple coming before God's Throne. One of the best memories of this day will always be the perfect weather that we had in spite of the forecasts for a full day of rain.

I was especially touched by the closing vows my dad recited with the bride and groom, first uttered by a desperate Ruth who was cleaving tightly to her mother-in-law after the recent death of her young husband:

"For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you." (Ruth 1:16-17)

My Sister and Me

I've mentioned before how incredibly different my sister and I are. Just the other day, I was trying to explain to someone who didn't know my sister just how great she really is. The conversation went something like this:

Me: "Oh my sister? She's awesome, a really nice person. We are polar opposites, but I love her."

C: "What is she doing now?"

Me: "She's doing an internship at I.H.O.P. in Atlanta. I'm not quite sure all that it entails, but I know that she's taking some classes and has several hours a day where she is at the church in the prayer room, praying for specific needs both here and abroad."

C: "Wow, she sounds like a really cool girl."

(Awkward pause in conversation)

C: "I'm just wondering though. You said you guys were polar opposites, then you said that she was really nice and prays a lot."

True, true. I really wish I were a lot more like my sister sometimes!!

(By the way, Aunt K, we miss you!!!)

Blogger World

I'm enjoying this new blogging phase of life. It's given me accountability to do something I've always wanted to do but never made time for, which is documenting the really great stuff in life.

It all started with my friend G recommending that if I only read one blog ever, I needed to read this one. So one morning, I made a cup of coffee, got E's video started, opened up my laptop to do a bit of Facebook browsing, and decided to check out what "JMom" had written for the day.........and two videos, three cups of coffee, a box of Kleenex, and an hour later, E peeled me away from the computer screen, back into our world and to the life that was happening right before my eyes.

It took me about eight months to gather up the nerve to venture out onto my own blog. I'm a perfectionist, Type A personality to the core, so I stood frozen on the cliff for a long time, trying to think about the perfect way to jump. It's a little nerve-racking knowing that somebody else is going to be reading your mind, literally. Especially when I'm quite comfortable with the fact that, up to this point, I've been described as someone who's pretty hard to read, even by my husband at times. It's a sobering place to be, for sure.

For all of you out there who are getting to know me and our little family by way of the world wide web, welcome. My theology may be a little "off" at times, but only because I have the handicap of peering at a great, big, infinite God through a teeny, tiny, finite pair of human eyes - not because I am intending to fit him inside my own little box. I hope you enjoy the glimpses into our lives, but even more, I hope you are encouraged to get to know this God that offers us the joy and the hope that gives our lives meaning.

Triathlon: Season 2

Today our family closed the book on Chapter 2 of Triathlons for my husband. It was a successful year for him, and I am very proud of his accomplishments. My typically easy-going guy has become quite competitive and even took a 3rd place finish at one of the Sprints (minus a stray goo pack...a great story if you ever have time to ask him about it). He's got a great team of guys that he trains with, and the races are always a fun family event (though I haven't quite yet figured out how to push a toddler, leash a dog and snap a picture all at the same time - so a big "shout out" to Nana for the extra hands and G for taking extra pictures of my man with her camera!!).

Here are a few shots of my triathlete in action this summer. Looking forward to what next year brings!

John Tanner Sprint

Peachtree City Olympic

Sloppy Floyd Sprint

The Triathlon Crew

Some Summertime Fun

Toe to Toe

During the first year of marriage, I cried...a lot. I was young (22), fresh out of college, new in my career, and ready to have somebody to curl up next to every night and scare away the boogie man. I was not ready for smelly laundry, three times the grocery bill, and not being able to leave our pint-sized loft apartment every time I got mad.

Really bad communication skills (me) + unbearably high expectations of what a husband should do and shouldn't do (me again) = lots of crying (once again, me).

Tonight I was reminded tonight of how very far God has redeemed us from that pit. With the guidance of some really incredible married folks, lots of prayer, time, the iMarriage series by Andy Stanley, and the supernatural patience of my husband, we have come a really long way. He still has really smelly socks, and I still am uncovering hidden, self-serving expectations in my heart. But in the midst of all that, God drops nights like tonight in our laps - nights where we sit toe to toe on top of the washer and dryer, and we talk until we're so tired that neither one of us can see straight. Then we laugh until it hurts because it's only 9pm. I love that my husband carries so many incredible qualities, but tonight I just love that he's my greatest and dearest earthly friend.

Rubik's Cubes and Reunions

Saturday was a very full day. E sensed the excitement, and was wide awake and talking nearly an hour earlier than usual. We had a family reunion, a cousin's bridal shower, and several house visits to hometown friends to make before packing up and heading back to the Bost home. Add to that my headstrong determination to master the task of solving the Rubik's Cube, and it's a good thing we got up with the sun.

Smith Family Reunion

Uncle "I"

I did it!! (Thanks, mom!)

E & Scarlett