Hot and Cold Relationship

I just put this picture on here because we were watching Clemson play basketball the other night and he was saying "Go Tigers" when I snapped the picture.

Some days I think Chewy and Harrison are going to be best friends. Other days, I think Chewy doesn't really "accidentally" knock Harrison down to the floor. The wishy-washy relationship could have something to do with the fact that Harrison terrorizes the dogs with toys. We'll see what happens.

No Shortage of Smiles

It is so fun to see Harrison's personality evolve daily. We've noticed that in big groups, he is fairly shy. He really likes to sit back and take things in, figuring out how things work or why people are behaving a certain way. At home and around small groups, he is wide-open, and usually the center of the action. He loves to make us laugh and smile...no matter what it takes. I love it. I love that he knows he is funny. More importantly, I love that he is balanced (which I'm fairly confident that I was not when I was a child). He knows when to take a step back and when to throw in a good belly laugh.

God Is Here

I'm having a hard time putting words to a post right now. This past week has been full of all sorts of emotions that don't seem as though they should co-exist in one week. From the devastation in Haiti to putting a contract on a different house to a dear YL buddy passing away unexpectedly to packing up friends that are moving to Uganda for a couple of years to celebrating my best friends birthday, it has been a crazy week. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around all of it. And after visiting St. Andrew's on Sunday, I'm reminded more than ever that God Is Here, even amongst the fiery furnace (see Hannah Alexander's post for a great re-cap http://contentedme.wordpress.com/). It is such a relief to know that. I started to think about how I can prepare Harrison for hard times. Immediately, I just felt a sense of brokenness. I don't want him to hurt; in fact, I don't want him to experience pain. I feel like I would do anything to make sure it doesn't happen. Recognizing the impossibility of this, I take comfort in knowing that God will be there with him during those times.

I love this boy. I love the joy that I see on his face. When I snapped this picture, I immediately thought of my brother. His expression reminded me of my brother's face when he was younger (though he is older than me). I always remember that my brother smiled often. And if he wasn't smiling, he was thinking about how things work, or how he could make it different. I think Harrison is similar. I see that same look in his eyes. Since Harrison was born, Adam and I have been praying the same prayer daily for Harrison: that the Lord would be the center of his life, and that people would be changed be his presence and the way he loves others and loves life. And when I see this picture, I can only think of the Joy of the Lord.

Monkey Tales

I've noticed that every time I get on the phone with Greenie (see The Reed Family Blog), the first thing we do is share funny tales of what our kids are doing. Today, I shared a funny story, which also doubled as my most embarrassing moment since college. I know that I'm not going to do it justice, because it was far more embarrassing than I could begin to describe.

Here goes: This Sunday at church, after picking up Harrison from the nursery, I took him into the service for communion. After we received communion, and everyone else did, the music ended. At that point, there was that awkward silent pause in between communion and the rest of the service. Insert paper ruffles, and oh, a very large belch from my 21 month old son. Immediately, I put my hand over his mouth, and then I hid my face behind his back. I was shaking violently because I was laughing so hard (but not making a noise...you know that laugh). I could feel all of the eyes in the congregation staring at me. I'm sure they were thinking that it was Adam because of the re-verb that it caused. Not really re-verb, but the type of burps exits my son's body are just so big for such a little man. As we were leaving church, the man in front of us (with four kids, mind you) said, "Man, I've heard some burps in my day, but that was stout." I literally, wanted to crawl in a hole. As a side note, you have to know that I don't encourage my son to burp. I will admit, there are times that I have to turn my head so I can snicker where he can't see or hear (Adam says that he can see me). Either way, we make him say excuse me, but I haven't quite figured out how to get him to just NOT do it altogether. But I haven't really figured that out for myself yet, either. I know that I spent the first year of his life celebrating his burps, so I'm sure that he is confused by it.

As a note about the pictures, I have to apologize again for posting so many pictures. I can never decide which one is the cutest, so I just put all of them on here. Do you think he likes his monkey?

Seriously...

Words cannot express how much these two boys warm my heart.

Carhartt Commercial

All great minds think alike...obviously. Lara and I decided to dress our boys in Carhartt overalls to celebrate Shep's dad getting old. Lara thought even better than I did...she matched her son. They may be the cutest mother-son combination. Obviously, we love Carhartts. Harrison is on his second pair. I will say that I am a little bummed that they decided not to do the buttons in the crotch for the 2T size. It makes changing diapers uber-difficult. But for him to look this cute, I am willing to sacrifice.

Ellie and Harrison

Sweet toddlers hanging out

The two kiddos about to embrace

Harrison played with little Elliot (see The Ables Family blog) for the first time today and I think he may be a little smitten with her. At first, Harrison is a little shy around everyone, which he clearly must have inherited from me. But after a few moments, Harrison was ready to hug and hold hands with little Ellie. And I have to say, she is adorable. She is going to be a heart breaker one day. The sweet part about this story is after we got home from hanging with Elliot today, Adam was saying Harrison's prayers, and the first thing he (Adam) prayed for was Elliot. This was totally unprompted. In fact, we hadn't even discussed her or her family, or even her presence at the party on the car ride home. It was so thoughtful and endearing...

2010 The Year of Peace

Since this is the first post of the new year, I thought I would share with our readers, what Adam and I have been thinking about what we yearn for 2010 to look like. Since we were married (4 years ago on the 21st of this month), our lives have been a little bit of a whirlwind. And while I realize part of life is the journey and what you make of it, we are praying that 2010 will be a year of peace for us. Here is a snapshot at what our life has been like. And by no means am I complaining. We have had a wonderful 4 years that we can celebrate everyday. That does not mean it hasn't been hectic, however.

2006: January, Adam and Mandy marry and thus, move into together. February: we add a second dog, Marley, to our family, and she may have been the worst puppy ever. In fact, we even tried to give her away. But we loved her too much to be able to handle that. April, Adam starts the application process to be a Chick-fil-A operator. Mayish, Adam is selected as an operator where we learn we will be moving to Denver. July, we sell our town home in Charleston. August, we pack up and drive to Denver.

2007: Adam has a couple of months under his belt as a new operator; Summer, Mandy and Adam learn that we are expecting our first child (a surprise to a lot of people, including us).

2008: March, Harrison is born; Fallish...Adam starts the relocation process to get us back to SC.

2009: Still very much into relocation process with Chick-fil-A; celebrate Harrison's birthday and put the house on the market; May, Adam is selected as an operator in Murrells Inlet, SC (woohoo) June, Mandy has emergency surgery; June 15th, Adam, Mandy, Harrison, Joan, and the dogs pack up and drive across country. The last 6 months of 2009 was spent in a tiny rental house, while house hunting, and Mandy traveling for work more than ever.

In no way, am I complaining. Adam and I are just ready to feel settled. And as I write this, I wonder if that is what the Lord wants for us at any point in life. Settling also seems a little like complacency. That I know, the Lord does not want for us. But I do feel like he wants us to feel like we are living in a time of Peace every now and then. So, Lord, that is the desire of our hearts. Even though I am about to spend 2010 with my son turning two...it seems backwards to hope for a year of Peace. But I feel like we can claim it. And so we will...