Vivi Meets Her Teacher...

...and Mommy realizes she didn't get a picture of Vivi actually meeting her teacher.
Epic fail, as the kids say.
But don't let that small thing distract from the bigger picture here, which is that Vivienne got to go to school today!!  After weeks of wearing her backpack around the house, the grocery store, the local community college, Mommy's work, and pretty much everywhere else she's gone, she finally got to wear it to school. 

She only took it off when Tim showed her the cubby that was all hers for the year.

She got a glimpse of the room yesterday when we were at Sunday School, and today she made a beeline for the piano that she had already scoped out.

After her concert, she moved on to shopping.

 

Pointing to her name on the sign outside of her room.  

And so Vivi's school career begins.  Our hope is that she loves school as much as she thinks she is going to love school.  With her great teachers and the wonderful school director, we have no doubt that will happen.  We also hope that she will keep her joy and love of life as she makes new friends, starts to learn, and begins to figure out who she is.

Somehow, we think she'll be just fine.

Micah Turns 7

Our son turned seven years old today.
There have been ups and downs over the years for sure, but it has been a total joy to be his parents.
Let us tell you a few things about Micah.
1. He has the capacity to work really hard for what he wants.  See the Lego set in this picture? Micah has been doing chores for a while and saving his money and he earned enough to buy this set himself. If you know anything about Lego sets, you know that they're not cheap.  Our boy earned his reward. And then he built it all by himself in three hours.

2. Micah. Loves. Trains.  Seriously.  I'm pretty sure that there has never been another boy in the history of boys that loves trains as much as ours. Grandma found him a great book on trains that allows him to read about trains through the years and open flaps to read even more about the details of the inner workings of the trains.  This will keep him busy for a while.

3. Micah has a great imagination. He goes to train shows and then comes home and creates his own train show.  He sees a YouTube video about a fire truck, and the next thing you know, he's holed up in his room building his own fire truck out of Legos.  If there is a car or truck nearby, he can create a race track.  He's not just cute - this boy has serious smarts.

4. He's got a good heart, this one. Here he is making pancakes at 6:30 in the morning to the Family Promise folks staying at our church.  We're trying to direct his compassion and teach him how to help others with his gifts, but deep down he cares for others.  He dared to love a sister that he never even met before, and joyfully welcomed her home forever.  That's more than a lot of adults could do.

 

5. Micah is a great big brother.  Being an introvert by nature means that there are definitely times that he wants his privacy and his space, and he doesn't enjoy letting others call the shots.  But he is so gentle with his sister, even giving her the ultimate praise in a recent homework assignment, saying that he loves to play with her.  He and Liam play together like brothers - they get along beautifully one minute, and are fighting like enemies the next.  But in the end, he does things like put his hand on his little brother's back to make sure that he gets on the school bus okay.

At 7, Micah's favorite food is macaroni and cheese (the Kraft kind, thank you very much). He loves to play with any type of transportation-related toy and probably knows more about it than the person who dreamed it up.  If he were allowed to do anything, he would build Legos.  His favorite color is still purple.  His favorite TV shows are still things from the Disney Jr. channel, and his favorite movie is whatever he saw last. His favorite subject in school is math, and he shows flashes of a memory that retains just about everything he sees and hears.
Here's the bottom line.  We could write words for days about this boy and still not adequately express how wonderful he is and how blessed we are to have him as our son.  He has his struggles, but he works hard to overcome them, and that make us love him even more.

Happy birthday, Micah.  Here's to you turning seven.  We adore you, and thank God for you.

Love,
Mom and Dad

First Day of School

The first day of school is a big one in a lot of families, and ours is no different.
The kids were up early this morning and were so excited to start their new school year together.  They even posed happily for pictures before leaving (way too early) for the bus stop.

Micah's starting second grade and is most excited about math, which he just loved.  This is one apple that definitely fell far from my tree.

Liam's started kindergarten and was most excited about everything!  He got to be line leader today, and was thrilled beyond words that this was his job. 

 

I was a little worried about his transition since he loved preschool so much, but he had a good day.  He's talking about wanting to go back to preschool tomorrow instead of kindergarten, but I think in general the good really outweighed the bad.

Ah, Vivi-cakes.  You have three years before you can get on the bus but only one more week until you get to go to your very own school!!

Here are the boys talking to their sister at the bus stop, undoubtedly reassuring her that her time would come, just as it had first for Micah and now finally for Liam.

And then it was time for some brotherly conversation.  Last minute talks about the details on the bus, no doubt, since that's where every conversation about school ended up recently.

For all of their fights and squabbles with one another, I was so thrilled to see Micah reach out a protective hand and put it on his little brother's back as Liam boarded the school bus for the first time.  They couldn't sit together (kindergarteners have to sit in the front few rows and I'm not sure if even siblings are allowed to join them), but Micah kept craning his head over the seats to see where Liam was.  So sweet, and it did my heart good.

 

Video of Liam getting on for the first time!

We're so proud of our boys and know that they're off to a great start for the year!

10 Years

Today was a big day in our family. Micah got his bible, and we celebrated 10 years of Tim's ministry at First Presbyterian.
First, the bibles. I have been waiting for this moment for Micah since he was born. This is the moment when God's Word is placed in his hand, when he hears how important it is, and when he really starts to feel ownership of it in his life. 
He was one of four rising second graders who received their bibles today.

I might have been a little emotional about it.

 

 Micah was blessed enough to have his dad give him his bible.

 

Tim reminded Micah that he was named after one of those books from the bible, and that Micah might want to start with that book when he started reading.  And so we will.

 After the service, there was a luncheon in Mauldin Hall.  It was for Rally Day and in honor of Tim's 10 years at First Pres.  

Checking out the dessert table before everyone comes in.

And the food layout.  First Pres knows how to throw a good celebration.

As part of Rally Day, the kids get their "Faithful Attendance" from Sunday School for the previous year.   Here's Liam getting his award.

And Micah getting his. We are so proud of our boys.  As Ms. Lynn said, when they're this little, they don't have a choice about going to Sunday School. But our kids go every week without a fight.  It can be hard for them to listen sometimes, but they always come home knowing something. And that's all that we ask.

Then we shifted gears into the celebration for Tim's ten years.  Bill Ogden started the festivities with a little walk down memory lane about how Tim had come to the church ten years ago.

Sandy Reynolds read a beautiful original poem that she had written.

Tim was overcome with the love and appreciation from our FPCB family.

They presented Tim with a photo album of his time through the years, and a cross stitch by the amazingly talented Allison Elrod.

This was us 10 years ago on our first Sunday at First Pres.
And this is us today.  A little less deer-in-headlights and a lot more children.  We have grown in our faith and as a family.  We could not be more grateful for the love that our church family has shown us over the last decade. Thank you, First Pres.