Merry Christmas

Christmas morning was wonderful and Caleb loved all his toys, of course. The kid got everything! We went over to Chris and Lainee's for Christmas dinner and played Rock Band, one of Landon's new toys. Caleb was actually pretty darn good on the drums. I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of that! Sorry. Guess I was too busy playing too.

Caleb was asked to sing happy birthday to Jesus for the Christmas Eve service at church. I'm waiting on a better video copy from my brother, but the one attached here is still pretty good. Caleb had no fear! The pastor asked him to come up at the beginning of the service, and Caleb just waltzed right up in front of everyone, grabbed the microphone and sang. I seriously could not have been more proud and the people at church just loved it. How lucky am I that God chose me to be Caleb's mom! This child just blesses me every day.

Eskimo Kisses!

Loving the new power tools!

Wrestling with Uncle Chris

More Christmas pics.....

Science Museum

We had an amazing time at the science museum today! I could not believe how much was there and was so impressed! Caleb had an absolute ball and wants to live there now. The best part was the space shuttle simulation ride. Caleb is totally into astronauts and space shuttles so this was PERFECT! He got to be an astronaut for the day and thinks he really went to outer space.

Trip to Urgent Care....

It was pretty nice out Friday afternoon, so after I picked up Caleb from preschool I picked up Avery too and took them to the park. All was well and they were having fun until Caleb started heading down a rope thingy. I saw him slip and fall a little. It was just a little tumble but he manged to really hit his chin hard on a wooden part of the playground. I knew it was going to be pretty nasty because he was REALLY crying, and he is not a big crier. Sure enough, when I picked him up and looked under his chin, there was a really deep gash. Luckily I had some pretty heavy duty bandaids in my purse.

I started to take Avery back home before we headed to the doc, but Caleb started balling because he wanted Avery to come. She really wanted to come too, and I'm so glad she did! She was making him laugh, distracting him, and even held his hand while he was getting his chin looked at. It was absolutely the sweetest thing! It's crazy how they can want to kill each other one minute, then they totally love each other the next.

Caleb was so brave and did great. It really wasn't too bad and the doctor did this super glue stuff instead of stitches. It's already looking better and healing up well.

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus

Caleb is getting so excited about Christmas. Whenever we ask him why we celebrate Christmas, he says, "Because it's Jesus' birthday." So, the other night, he wanted to practice singing happy birthday to Jesus. Too precious!

Gingerbread House Fun/Disaster

We stopped by Sam's yesterday while we were out running errands, and I found this great gingerbread house kit. It was so fun putting it together with Caleb, and it started out really good, but slowly the roof began to fall off and eventually it all fell apart. Caleb really didn't care, and neither did I. It was just fun trying to make something together.

Grandpa saw the mess though and had to do something about it. Within minutes he had his drill and toothpicks and found a way to put it all back together again. He would have been Humpty Dumpty's savior!

So far so good.....

Bye bye roof!

What a beautiful mess.

Extreme Makeover Gingerbread House Edition

Enrolled....

Well, I officially enrolled for the spring semester. I'll be taking four classes. One is just a career planning course which hopefully won't require too much, but the others are pretty heavy. I would normally only take three classes, but the career planning one is required for my first semester of grad school.

I'm a little nervous thinking about going back to school full-time, and working, and taking care of Caleb. I know somehow my schedule will come together and it'll work out, but geeze.... I really wish there were three of me.

What a weekend!

Ok, I am freakin exhausted! I ended up babysitting my niece and nephew Friday night, Saturday night, and taking them to church with us Sunday morning and watching them Sunday afternoon. I absolutely LOVE being with them, but the two of them plus Caleb can be nuts! Caleb and Avery tend to butt heads so I played referee quite a bit. Most of the time was really fun, and I finally got to have some semi-alone time with Landon, which is rare. We watched a bunch of Goosebumps movies, and I can honestly say I liked them.

Grandpa took Caleb out Saturday morning over to little airport near us. He was just planning on driving him by some airplanes, but he ended up meeting a really nice guy that let Caleb sit in his plane and play with all the gadgets. He came home so excited! I love nice people. :-)

I'm looking forward to a short week at work and having Thanksgiving with the fam. Thanks for all the continued emails, texts, prayers, and calls.

Cute stuff Caleb said recently...

#1- God made my mommy for me!

#2- Caleb- Mommy, I don't like girls. Girls are yucky! I can't like Avery because she's a girl.
Me- But I'm a girl. You mean you don't like mommy because I'm a girl?
Caleb- Oh, ok momma. I guess I have to like Avery then.

Caleb's First School Program

Today Caleb had his first little school program for Thanksgiving. He was right in the middle and did great! It was so cute my cheeks hurt from smiling so big. I didn't tell him I was coming to see him later when I dropped him off this morning, so the expression on his face when he saw me videoing him was priceless.

Girls Reunion Weekend

I flew out to DC this past weekend to visit my best friend, Jessica, and my old friends from high school Missy and Tiffany drove out too. We hadn't all been together in 10 years! Crazy how much time has gone by, but it didn't feel like it all.

It was such fun going through old pictures, some of which were humiliating, and catching up on everything. I feel so unbelievably lucky to have such amazing friends! This needs to be a yearly event, at least.

Tiffany, Missy, Me, Jessica, and Bella (the cutest pooch ever!)

I fell totally in love with this dog!

After a fun dinner out, we spent the night drinking some wine and playing cards.

Great dinner out!

Having a moment of clarity....

Since day one, when my little world started to unravel, I've prayed and clung to God. Tonight I realized just how much. I don't know exactly how to explain it, except to say that it just hit my heart how so much good is coming from so much bad.

I've developed a real hunger for God's word. I've always wanted to be a good Christian woman, and reflect that in my life, but something has happened inside of me. I actually crave reading my bible. If I don't open it up one day, I really feel like something is missing.

My eyes and my heart are being illuminated by so many parts of the bible that I've read a million times, but never really saw. I can't begin to tell you how many times I say to myself (or looking up at God), "Wow!" There is so much peace that comes over me when I read even just one verse.

I wanted to share just a few of the blessings that I'm starting to see in all this mess:

-Caleb is developing such a closeness with his grandparents, his cousins, and his aunt and uncle. Mommy is not his only safety blanket anymore.
-My church family is just that, a family. I have absolutely been taken in by some of the most godly people I've ever met. I'll receive text messages and phone calls from people there saying they're holding me up in prayer and asking if there is anything they can do to help. And you know what? They really mean it!
-I'm realizing just how not alone I am. I'm not afraid to share with people what's happened with me, and after I do, so many times I hear similar stories that have happened to them or their family members. So many people have opened their hearts to me, and I really can empathize and I know how to better pray for them. It's not just, "Lord help him or her." It's specific and truly heart-felt.

There are many days, most actually, that I'm still in disbelief. How the man I loved faithfully for so long, could do what's he's done, or choose what he's chosen, is something I just can't wrap my mind around. There is a certain song out, which has been one of Caleb's favorite songs, that just keeps running through my mind.- "I am not skilled to understand, what God has willed, what God had planned. I only know at His right hand, stands one who is my savior."

It's really hard, and I'm so tired out, but my faith is being strengthened. My hope is being renewed. There is so much to be thankful for.

Laughed so hard I cried....

Caleb and I were laying in bed the other night watching "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." There is a part in the movie when Sally, the little girl who has a crush on Linus, was whining and kind of yelling at Linus. For those of you who can't remember or don't know, she had decided to stay with him in the pumpkin patch and wait for the Great Pumpkin instead of go trick-or-treating with the other kids.

I looked over at Caleb and was watching his face change while he watched that part. He furrowed his brow and started looking seriously ticked off. Then he looks over at me and says like such a little man, "I'd hit that girl in the face!"

Words can't describe it as well as I'd like, but I laughed so hard I was almost crying. I was definitely not expecting him to say that.

Halloween

We had a ball trick-or-treating tonight. Landon went with his buddies (He's getting so grown-up!) , and Caleb and Avery went together. Caleb wanted to be a skeleton and a butterfly, so I just let him be both.

The Joker, a skeleton/butterfly, and Dorothy

Caleb was totally ready for the candy! He was holding his bag up so high.

Caleb ended up wanting to ride mommy's shoulders half the night, so Avery wanted to be carried too, of course.

Pizza Day...

I took Caleb to get a haircut yesterday morning, then afterwards decided to head over to Incredible Pizza. He's never been there so I thought it would be a fun surprise for him. It ended up being even better than I thought because we were the ONLY ones there. Seriously.... The whole place was ours. The guys working there were playing the games so any tickets that came out, they gave to us. We got to play whatever we wanted when we wanted to, and to top it off, when I found out I didn't have enough left on my game card for go-kart races, the guy just said he'd let us go for free. So nice! The place isn't cheap, but for $10, we really got a fantastic deal and Caleb loved it!

I love having fun days like that out with man little man. When it's just the two of us, we can just talk and talk and have some of those great bonding moments. Caleb is turning into quite a story teller now, so we have some very interesting conversations.

This morning I had one of those too- precious moments when Caleb rolls over next to me, grabs my face with his little hands, smiles, kisses me, and says, "Mommy! I love you. Good morning." Then he made little puppy sounds and cuddled into my neck. It's hard for me to hold back the tears when that kind of sweetness happens. I know he has his moments of impatience and not wanting to listen, but he usually has this amazingly sweet and gentle side that melts my heart, and he always has.

Bible verse for the day

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

I've been reading a ton in Corinthians lately, and it's amazing how many times I've said "wow" out loud while I've been reading. I never thought I'd be going through what I'm going through, but my faith has already been strengthened so much. For that reason, despite all the pain, I'm so incredibly thankful.

How Caleb is....

Hi everyone. Sorry I haven't been keeping my page quite as updated as normal. I've had a lot of calls and emails lately asking how Caleb was doing so I wanted to post the latest.

Caleb is really doing well. He's been asking some questions about daddy here and there that are hard to hear and answer, but I think I'm doing a pretty good job responding with love and as simply as I can. I know he can't really understand what has happened so it's confusing for him, but the questions are coming less and less.

He picked out a really fun skeleton costume for Halloween and will be going trick-or-treating with his cousins. Caleb's basically become a little brother to Landon and Avery, and I really love seeing them get so close. We'll all be going for group flu shots on Saturday. Fun!

I also wanted to post my amazement at Caleb's computer saviness. This 3-year-old can navigate the internet already, finding his favorite websites (PBS kids and Nick Jr. usually), open multiple browsers, use the back and forward arrows, adjust volume levels, etc. It's freakin me out. He's too smart!

Oh, and Caleb has also entered the "no matter what you say, I'm going to disagree with you" phase. If I told him the sky was blue, he would say, "No it's not!" I've tried reverse psychology, but he's too smart for it. It can be frustrating, but it's fun too, and he cracks me up.

Some recent pictures....

Hi all. Here are just a few more pictures. Love ya'll!

Grandpa and I took him kite flying at Lake Hefner.

He's become quite the Mr. Fix-it.....

Update...

So here's the latest... I talked to my advisor today at college and got a tentative schedule laid out for next semester. I'll be taking three classes which is considered full-time at the grad level, but I think I'll only have to actually go to school two days a week, so at least I won't be spending a fortune on gas driving there all the time. You know me... always trying to be economical. Thank God I kept my little Honda! I love that car.

I also had a meeting at work last week and was asked if I'd be willing to work full-time which was a nice surprise. In order to receive benefits now I need to work at least 30 hours a week, so I agreed to do that instead. I think 40 hours right now would be pushing it. I'm mostly working 3-midnight so I can still stay home with Caleb all day. My work said they'll be flexible with my schedule when school starts up so that's a relief. Oh, and my google job is in the mix too when I can fit it in, mostly on the weekends. Somehow or another I'll make it all work, but I'm tired. There's just never a break, but I guess that's just how it's going to be. Hopefully my body will adjust.

One little ray of sunshine around the corner is that I'm going to visit my best friend, Jessica, in DC in November. It's kind of a belated birthday celebration, plus a couple of my other really close friends from high school that I haven't seen in forever are going to come too. It'll be sort of a mini-reunion, and I may actually get to go get a massage and have some "me" time. I really can't wait!

Thanks again everybody for the constant prayers, love, and support. I may not get to tell some of you all the time, but it means the world to me and is really helping me through this. Love you guys!

First Time Fishing

We've got some friends from church with this great little dock off their backyard where you can go fishing, and they said we're welcome there anytime. So this morning, Caleb, Landon, Uncle Chris, and I headed out there and caught a ton! As soon as our hooks hit the water we were catching fish which was so great, especially for a three-year-old with almost no patience.

I hadn't been fishing in such a long time and forgot, that even though I love fishing, I can be such a girl about actually holding on to the fish and pulling the hook out. Once I got it down though it was no biggie, and Caleb was a good little helper.

Reeling in his 2nd or 3rd fish!

Caleb was saying, "ahhh, poor fishy..."

He loved touching the fish.

Caleb took a picture of me fixing his fishing pole.

Oklahoma State Fair!

Today was another beautiful one and getting into the fair today was cheap so we decided to head out there this morning. It was perfect! No lines. We got to do whatever we wanted to do without waiting. Caleb tried his first yummy fair food and won a tiger at a balloon pop game. He hit 4 out of the 5 balloons with the darts they gave him which was very impressive. He's got a great arm.

It was just a big day of firsts for him. First pony ride, first camel ride, first space tower ride, first bungie jumpie ride, first cheese on a stick, first win at a fair game. We got there early enough in the day so that we were just able to enjoy everything without the crowds and by the time we were ready to go, the crowds were just starting to trickle in. Couldn't have timed it much better, and we had so much fun. My shoulders are just kinda sore from carrying Caleb on my shoulders for so much of the time.

First camel ride! Brought up fun memories for me when I did this in Dubai.

First fair food. He chose cheese on a stick and really liked it.

He found a nice spot by a tree to chill out and drink his root beer.

The Fair!

Feeding and petting a camel.

Riding the Oklahoma Space Tower. It was fantastic and Caleb loved being up so high.

He had his first pony ride!

Truck driving man....

Feeding the goats.