My Baby Boy is 3!

Yesterday, my first born child turned 3 years old! I have to say the last three years have been the most rewarding of my life. Philip has given me a new way to love and has brought out a wonderfully, special side of Matthew which I just adore too. Philip (as well as Braewyn and his cousins) has brought such joy to his grandparents' lives as well. I'll just say I've seen three adults do some very silly things over the last three years! Yes, I am Philip's mother, but I really try to share him with everyone we meet. God has blessed him with a sensitive, boisterous little personality and I love seeing other people smile when he's around. Philip, I thank Jesus daily for bringing you into my life and allowing me to witness the miracle of how you've grown!


Philip at almost two months old.


Here he is around 8 months!


Now Philip is around 16 months old.


This is Philip decorating our tree, Christmas of 2006.


And this is Philip currently. Here he is yesterday morning after opening his present from Great Grandma and Grandpa Diemer (Mom's parents).


After a long day of awaiting cake, presents and a special birthday dinner with our in-town family, Philip drifts off to sleep. Goodnight, my little prince! I love you!

My Little Kitchen Helper

Last night I baked a banana bread as we had some very overly ripe bananas. After it finished cooking, I took it out of the oven and set it on top of the stove. Philip asked to see it so I picked him up. I then told him I was going to get a toothpick to poke it with to see if it was done.

He said, "I want to do it. I'm a good toothpicker!"

I'm in a lull...

Really not sure what to write, but just wanted to give a little update as to how things are going. Since writing last, we've had those busy weeks where you look back and think, "What made it so busy?" We had a great New Year's Day eating lunch at Matthew's Aunt Elise and Uncle Arden's house and enjoying the company of the Brooks' side of his family. That afternoon we went over to our friends Jason and Julie's house. Another couple was there and we all enjoyed playing the "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?" DVD game. Philip had a good time with Sarah Beth and Brittany and all their "girl" toys. Here's a pic of the three of them from our Harvest Fest in October.



The second week of January, I spent rereading my Bible study lesson as BSF picked back up on Jan. 10 after having a three week break and preparing the January newsletter for our MOPS group. Had the thing almost done on Saturday when my file corrupted or something! I had to start from scratch on Sunday afternoon but at least I had the layout in my head (fun, huh Casey?!).

Our MOPS meeting on Jan. 15 was great. Mom was our key-note speaker! I had thought she would only be giving a 10-minute testimony, but when Diana, our coordinator, called Mom about speaking, she told her she would have 30 minutes. I was nervous for Mom (neither of us are polished public speakers), but I was so proud of Mom and she did a great job speaking for 35-minutes! Her talk was about persevering through the hardtimes in marriage. Mom and Dad have been married 34 years and have homesickness, loss of job, issues with raising children, severe marital strains, and most recently cancer to post on their marriage resume. By God's grace, they are very happily married today. Listening to Mom speak and thinking about what she said from the perspective of all the other girls in the room, I have a renewed gratefulness to God for my parents and their example to me. I pray God blesses Matthew and I with many, many more years of marriage and the strength ("I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me..." Philippians 4:13) to get through whatever type of trials will come.

Finally, Tuesday afternoon Philip woke up crying from his nap saying his throat hurt. I gave him some juice to drink and tried to get him to take Tylenol. He threw it up. An hour later, he ate ice cream, toast pizza and some applesause. Off and on, he said he didn't feel so good (Me: "How do you feel?" Philip: "Not good."), so I took him to the doctor yesterday to rule out strep throat (my throat has been hurting off and on for weeks. Thank the Lord, no strep but probably a virus I was told. We rested at Mom's house yesterday and today woke up to a beautiful white-snow covered world. Virus or not, Philip was outside playing in it and helped his neighbor friends Emily and Anna Grace build a snowman! He's now sleeping in his bed.

Looking back, it has been a great start to 2008!

A Dickens Christmas

Each year, our city puts on "A Dickens Christmas" to ring in the Christmas season. I had wanted to go in past years, but never made it. Mom saw it advertized on TV and asked us about going with her and Dad. It was held on Tuesday, Nov. 29 so it was a while ago. The event takes over Main Street as groups of people reenact Christmas scenes in vacant storefronts and sing traditional Christmas carols on the sidewalks. It is entitled "A Dickens Christmas" as everyone involved wears late 1800's Renaissance-type clothing.

We had a good time although being very cold. Philip didn't quite understand why we were walking around at night in the cold, but he did enjoy seeing a street clown perform (on 4-ft. stilts at that!) and the lighting of our city Christmas tree. This will hopefully become a family tradition.

There really wasn't a lot to take pictures of (other than the 1000's of strangers walking down Main Street), but here's what we looked like all bundled up!

Oh, Where Do I Start...

Even though I told myself I would not let December get busy, it pretty much steamrolled over me... all in a good way of course! I have much to blog about but am going to pace myself (i.e. check back daily as I'll add a little bit at a time -- easier on both you and me!).

I did want to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to those of you I haven't been able to wish in person. I do hope you had a wonderful time with family and friends as we celebrated the most amazing gift the world has ever received, Jesus sent to earth as a helpless baby to display just how much God loves each and every one of us.

Well, let me say December and now January have held their own little miracles in my own life. I love serving a God who is concerned with the small details of our lives and I love bringing glory to Him when He presents blessings in even silly little ways. Back up with me to Monday, Dec. 17. Matthew and I had completed shopping for the kids two weeks prior (presents from us and what Santa would be bringing), but it seemed as soon as we finished shopping, Philip spent the morning with his friend Hayden and played with a "Batman car." Thus began the two weeks of anytime anyone asked Philip what Santa was bringing him, he would say, "a Batman car." Now back to Dec. 17. Matthew had told me that morning that maybe I should just go buy a Batman car as it seemed to be on the top of Philip's wish list. I didn't mind as it provided a night out ALONE for me to enjoy the Christmas spirit among the crazy shoppers (call me crazy, I love it!). Off I went.

I had to blog about this to keep for my own memories as I was suddenly one of those obsessed parents not returning home without THE present. My problem was that THE present I was after was not the hot item of the year. It was the pretty much invisible item of the year. I started in Kohl's as I was buying Ruth Ann a gift certificate there. No car. Next Toys R Us... a sure bet I thought. No car. Yes, aisles specifically dedicated to Spiderman and Transformers but no one looking for Batman! Next Target. No car. I called Matthew and said I was now heading to Walmart. As I walked through the Walmart parking lot, I whispered a prayer to God. "Lord, if Philip is meant to have a Batman car, please let it be here." This would be my last stop on the hunt. After being frustrated a bit as I was again seeing everything else it seemed, I walked down the preschool toy aisle and there before me... "My First Batmobile"! Thank you Lord! It might seem silly that I really prayed for a toy to be in Walmart, but it was yet again a chance for God to show His ability to bless if we would just ask (Matthew 7:7).

Now skipping ahead a few weeks (I'll post about our Christmas morning and trip to Kentucky soon but you can get a sneak peek by linking to Lori's or Casey's blogs), we returned home from the above mentioned trip to Kentucky on Friday, Dec. 28. Saturday was spent napping and washing clothes (me: napping, Matthew: washing clothes -- wonderful husband!). Sunday morning came and as we left for church I realized I had NO IDEA where my keys were. The two days before leaving for Kentucky were as blur as packing for a trip exponentially heightens my ADD and OCD (both relatively tame normally). And during our stay in KY, I had no need for keys. Here I was now with over a week since seeing my keys.

Well, Monday was spent cleaning house (thankfully with Mom's help as I was at a loss as to where to start -- toys and Christmas decorations covering an already dirty house!) and still no sign of the keys. Tuesday morning (January 1st!), I began the day reading my Bible and spending time alone with God (a perfect way to start the year). The keys were still heavy on my mind (I hate that feeling of losing something!). After these three days of knowing my keys were lost, I finally took the time to really pray about it. I said, "Lord, You know where my keys are. If You want me to find them, please show me where they are." Immediately, I heard in my mind, "The black bag." We had used a black, duffel bag for the first night of our trip (a stop at a hotel), but Matthew had unpacked it on Saturday and it was now back in the bottom of our closet. It would have been the last place I would probably look. Knowing God's faithful, I went right to that bag unzipped the side pouch (the one place Matthew would not have unpacked as it was never used), and there were my keys!! God is good!

If you are still reading, I hope you know God really does work miracles, some small like these and some very, very big. All it takes for you to see them is getting to know Jesus personally so you too can recognize His voice and realize that He did it and it wasn't just coincidence!