Father/Son Trip Ahead…YAY!
Soooo…the WORD in our house lately is that Rico Suave has purchased 2 roundtrip plane tickets to Park City, Utah for a ski trip! One has Rico’s name on it–and the other…NOT MINE! I’m super excited that he did this–and I had to practically TWIST HIS ARM and make him do it because my sweet husband doesn’t want to leave me right now. (I heart my man!) BUT…there are times when little boys need a special get away–and I’m SO EXCITED to share that the other ticket belongs to Parker man!
Have you ever read the book Raising a Modern Day Knight?? It is AMAZING and full of goodness!!! Yes…this is what we are raising our boys to be–knights in shining armor!
TRUE STORY–Several years ago I was doing photography, and I was at a client’s house–a day I will NEVER forget. The mom was snickering telling me what her husband “hoped” their sons would get into when they were in high school…things they considered “cool” for boys to do. (I felt like I needed to cover my ears hearing what the hopes were for this tender, sweet 5 year old boy one day.)
I stood there–dumbfounded, not knowing what to say or how to respond…wanting a camera crew to jump out and shout, “JUST KIDDING! You are on candid camera!) I wanted to show love toward her and try not to offend her by acting shocked–and I think I was so surprised and just realized how sheltered I was in my world–that it’s just a different world…or it’s always been this way some are just more vocal about the reality of it. I realized that not everyone has the same desires for their boys–not everyone is raising their boys to be modern day knights–and ours might just stick out in the crowd. And that’s okay:)
It is our hope that they will pray for their friends–that they will pray for girls they HONOR as sisters in Christ. I hope they write them letters instead of texts. I want to raise them to open their doors…and stand up to excuse them from the table. To respect and encourage and to build them up in their walks with Jesus. You might be surprised what some kids these days are actually encouraged or high-fived even from their parents for doing. It’s a crazy world out there–and we’re choosing to raise our men to be men of honor. Okay…so if you haven’t read that book…it’s a great one!
ONE thing in this book involves special outings where father’s invest in their sons…have a little man to man building up time. I couldn’t be more excited for Parker to be turning 8 this summer and to take one of his first excursions–one of many–to be built up and to even simply bond with his daddy.
Here is Parker receiving his gear (FOR SKIING!)
I’m sending them with the flip video and a camera…and the countdown is ON like donkey kong:)
Frank’s Question
So–we were on the way to Timothy Ministry today (where our kiddos go once a week where they take extra curricular activities) and Parker (my 7 year old) was asking a MILLION of questions with unknown answers…How old was the oldest man that EVER lived in Biblical times??? If God made everything–then who made God?? If you had to guess how far space goes, what would you guess???”
These are GREAT questions–but at 8am in the crazy mini-van with a mom who hasn’t had COFFEE…I was answering them the best I knew how, “Parker–I don’t know! That’s a great question. Um–what do you think? Do you want to listen to some music;)???”
I looked in the rearview mirror, and I could see Frank THINKING HARD (you have to picture that sweet boy in that picture there in deep thought!). He was looking at the window and then his eye brows lifted and he SHOUTED, “MOM! MOMMA!!! Lis-en!!! Who was da GREATEST man dat eva lived??” And before I had a chance to answer my 3 year old threw one hand in the air and shouted, “JESUS! Dat’s right momma! JESUS!”
We all couldn’t help but laugh–and he had the BIGGEST Frank grin on his face. For those of you who KNOW Frank know he NEVER talks. But when he does–you better get ready!!! This 3 year old boy says the sweetest things when he does choose to talk. I can’t wait to see how God is going to use this little arrow!
And a checkup…
GREAT news. I went to the retina specialist and a cornea specialist yesterday. They confirmed that my blurred vision is NOT anything permanent and there is no damage to the optic nerve yet. They retagged me with Sjogren’s Syndrome and I started new anti-inflammatories for my eyes…and they are hopeful in 6 months I’ll be able to see clearly again. HOPEFUL! No more doctor visits for me this week:)
Thank you everyone who continues to lift me and our family up in your prayers. We are so, so thankful to be on this journey with so many dear believers all over the country who pray for us–many whom we have never met. I hope to one day meet each and every one of you who have prayed for us–and if not in this world…I’ll be finding you in glory to thank you for your prayers!!! Thank you also for the emails and comments of love and encouragement. How I treasure each of you!
Love in Christ,
Andrea
by admin
I was SO excited to read some good news from you early this morning. I’ve been up ALL night long with a croupy 3 year old and I couldn’t shake you from my mind. I’ve been praying all night. Since there is no sleeping, I got on the computer with my little sweetie sitting on my lap, barking away, and here I see some answers to prayer. Praise God!! So thankful for God bringing you some encouragement!!
Having absolutely no idea if you diagnosis is correct, I do want to encourage you that if inflammation is the problem, sometimes it takes trying different anti-inflammatories and then several months for a response especially if you’ve had the problem for a while. I get unexplained inflammation in various parts of my body. The last bout was in my knee. Once my doc found an a.i. that helped with the pain I just stayed on it so at least I would be more comfortable. In theory you see improvement after a couple of weeks in the inflammation. I had no change other than pain management for 9 months. Then the inflammation started to go away and 2 months later I went off the drug (granted with some rebound side effects for a couple of weeks) and my knee is fine now. This was inflammation that had no known cause and had been there nearly 3 years and severely limited my mobility. Quite frankly, I’d given up hope that my body could respond to anti-inflammatories. In my past inflammation issues it had taken anywhere from 2 weeks – 2months to see results from the anti-inflammatories or taking steroids or in one case the hormonal changes of pregnancy. I only tell you this to give you hope since you’ve been dealing with your issues for a while and it seems you’ve tried lots of treatments already. Sometimes I think when your body’s inflammatory system is really out of control it takes a lot longer for medicines to work than most doctors will give them time to. Praying for your full recovery and the holy spirit’s guidance in your decisions and patience of course.