Resolutions

I know that people are all over the map about New Year's Resolutions. I have some friends that never make them, and other people that are revved up every year at the fresh new start they get on January 1. I like making resolutions, however, please don't check out my track record on how well I keep them. I guess I am the eternal optimist, thinking that this year will be different. I like being able to work toward a goal, even if that goal gets a little tweaked throughout the year. My resolutions for 2012 (and how they're going at 3 weeks in), are the following:
1. Read through the Bible in a year. I have attempted this before without success but this year am making this a priority, I will finish! I am using Tabletalk devotional as a guide and so far am keeping up.
2. Read a daily bible story to my kids. I am using Stepping Stones for this which is a little over Sadie's head and definitely over Eli's, but it's a great book that we will enjoy as they get older, especially.
3. Learn 26 verses as a family. I am using a template from icanteachmychild.com that I printed into notecards with a verse for each letter of the alphabet. I am trying to put them all to song (thanks, Mandy for that idea!) which helps tremendously! Even for me. :)
4. Lose 5 pounds. I weigh about 10 pounds more right now than I did when we got married. It's easy to think it's not a big deal but if I gain 10 pounds every 7 years it will not be pretty when I'm 60.

I think that's enough for one year. I have 3 kids, I can't set the bar too high or there's no way I'll make it. That's my advice to Moms when they have baby #2 or 3...lower your expectations of yourself. Sometimes Steven asks me "what do you have to do today?" I hate that question. This morning, for example, I had changed 4 poopy diapers by 8:30.
Speaking of poop (I'm sorry it gets mentioned so much in my blogging, surely that will come to an end soon). Eli pooped in his diaper tonight and Steven was talking to him about going in the potty, and he said "Eli, why did you poop in your diaper?" Eli looked at him for a minute and said "Because I said so." I assume he hears my answer when the kids are asking me "why?" and thought that was the standard reply. It's hard to convey just how cute he is when he walks in our room in the morning and says "Wake up Mommy, it's mor-ingtime!" Carolyn was laying down with him yesterday afternoon and finally gave up on getting him to sleep. She said they could go back downstairs and he said "Grandma, that was a dood (good) nap!"
Sadie has been questioning a lot lately about spiritual things, leading to a lot of interesting and sweet conversations. Apparently she's been listening. She wanted to stay in the nursery at my parent's church the other night and had not been listening very well to me during dinner. I asked her "Sadie, why should I believe you will listen any better to the nursery workers than you've been listening to me?" She quickly replied "I've been saving my good energy for them." A few nights later I was again, encouraging her behavior to improve, and she tried to reassure me by saying "I was just getting my sin out." She's a mess.
David is now officially on the go. He is crawling and pulling up on anything he can reach. He's also chanting "Dadada" which is really cute. Not as cute as "Mamama" would be, but I'll take it.

I remembered my last resolution.... it is to ENJOY my children. I was thinking about this at work yesterday, that we just love our children so much. I love all kids, always have, but there is just something different about your own. Every parent knows this to be true. I was thinking that the Lord has obviously created us to be this way, this indescribable adoration we have of our offspring, however they became ours.... then the thought struck me that we are HIS children, so how much does He love us? What a humbling thought! I know my kids are nothing special in the grand scheme of things, but they are to me, just as we are to our Heavenly Father. Pretty cool, to love mine and be loved by Him. Hopefully I'll do a good job of it this year.

Much belated Christmas post!

The holidays have taken their toll on me, as it has been a month and a half since I last blogged! This will be a quick post, to catch up on our month. It is actually harder to blog after it's been so long so I thought I would just use my favorite pictures from Christmas to help tell it. The picture above is our family on Christmas Eve at my parent's house. We had spent the day having our Harrell Christmas as Leslie's house. Eli was so sad to leave his cousins that he didn't even want Santa to come, he fell asleep shortly thereafter, in his "Eli the Incredible" cape made by Aunt Leslie. Unfortunately he couldn't take "Brave Bennett" or "Mighty Morris."

After the evening nap we managed to get the kids in their pjs, read the Christmas story, then leave cookies and milk for Santa.

The kids woke up the next morning ready to see what Santa brought, although Eli was actually expecting to SEE Santa and was quite disappointed when he couldn't find him anywhere downstairs. After Sadie opened her first couple of presents she deemed Santa a "good bringer!". Eli got so caught up in whatever present he received that he had to be reminded to open the next one....tip for next child - get a 2 year old 2 presents! We went to church with my parents then spent the afternoon getting ready for our trip to Cashiers. We drove up after what seemed like hours of windy roads to this beautiful place, and once we stepped inside it was all worth it! (I deleted this picture after what seems like hours tonight of trying to get it in the right place....sorry).

The next couple days we enjoyed a few games of Cornhole....





Esther had her first experience with roasting marshmellows.....

little buddies watched the snow fall.....

How we love our cousins!

Visiting a waterfall....

Hopefully we've started a family tradition with this trip, which we did in lieu of gifts this year. Making memories with the family is worth much more than present! After we left Cashier's we went to Franklin to visit some good friends from the Bible Conference. They have 5 children and one on the way and handled 6 overnight guests amazingly. We put the kids down and played games as long as we could keep our eyes open, it was great.

As for January news; D is crawling, Sadie is very interested in learning her letters, and Eli has made some small progress in potty training. More later....uploading pictures always leaves me frazzled so I hope they were enjoyed! Merry Christmas several weeks late.....

peace and quiet

I can't believe it is December 1st already! My keyboard is messing up so I'm not sure how long this will be, but the house is quiet, Steven is playing soccer, so it seemed like a good time to blog. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week in Charlotte. I was using my Mom's digital scale to follow my weight and I was pleased to have lost 3 pounds in the month of November by not eating sweets.....which I promptly put right back on in the next few days. Oh well, gold star for effort, right? My new goal is to either allow myself to have dessert or sweet tea, but not both, each day. I'm doing ok with that. The good news is that David is now 6 months old (I can't believe it!) and I ventured back out to the gym today with all 3 kids. When I came to pick them up Sadie asked if they could stay longer, so I think they're glad to be back. Sometimes it's just nice to get out of the house. Sadie managed, in one morning at home, to fill up each one of our stockings with "gifts", then "wrap" several more things in walmart bags and put them under the tree. It was a cute idea, but quite a mess as it ended up all over the floor once everything was "opened". Oh the excitement of Christmas! She will be in her preschool play and also one at church so I am hoping that we will have lots of conversation this month about Christ and try to minimize the commercial aspects of it all, but it's hard. They are kids, and they like to get new toys. We all did. So as much as I would like to produce children that are selfless and giving at a young age... I don't see it happening with mine this year. Hopefully we'll score high on thankfulness at least, and the other important lessons will come with time and maturity.
Speaking of maturity, Eli has GOT to stop pooping in his diaper. His little bottom simply cannot take the constant pooping, which he is doing again for some reason (I think yogurt may be the culprit). I know I have blogged way too much about my son's bowel habits but I can't help it, it's MY LIFE right now. But despite the flailing and wrestling at diaper changes and frequent whining and pouting of a 2 year old, when he fell asleep in my arms for a rare nap today I couldn't help but fall in love with the little guy all over again. He's just that sweet sometimes. As are the others two, especially David. (Sadie is known for lots of great things but sweet doesn't usually top the chart). My computer is beeping at me and I am super tired so I think I'm going to close this rambling post.....

goodnight!

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Head above water

I was beginning to think my little chunker was never going to sleep though the night...then last week he did it! He has gone without a middle of the night feeding for the past 6 nights! Yea! I probably shouldn't talk about it but I'm hoping it's going to last. That doesn't mean this Mama has slept through the night yet, for some reason or another (the children shall remain nameless) I have been awakened a few times the past few nights. However, the 1 or 2 long stretches of sleep have been fabulous and I am very thankful for them. I feel like I've been swimming under the surface for awhile and now my head is above water. (3 kids are heavy to swim with, hee...hee.., pardon the bad joke I am a little tired tonight).
On a serious note, the Lord has truly blessed us with Esther, and I am actually getting pretty spoiled. I haven't asked her to do much at all but every time I turn around she is cleaning the kitchen or folding clothes. I think she's becoming comfortable and hopefully enjoying her time here. She's said several times that people are very friendly. Tomorrow I will take her to Reading Connections in town where she will figure out what English classes she should take, she's excited about school. I'm hoping when D starts talking it will be in Korean.
Only 5 more days until Thanksgiving, which I'm excited about for several reasons. One of those is because I haven't had sweets this month and Steven hasn't had any soda - and we're stopping that nonsense on Thanksgiving. We've been drinking a lot of Sweet Tea lately, so the "diets" probably haven't been too successful. Oh well, if we did lose a lot of weight I'm sure we'd gain it back over the holidays. Oh how I love to eat over the holidays! Thankfully David will be 6 months old soon and I can go back to the gym. I can't believe how fast my little guy is growing up, this time is sweet and fleeting. I'm going to end this rambling post and head to bed so I can enjoy this phase whenever it starts in the morning. Until next time!

Crazy week...+1 more in the fam

This week has proved to be interesting for the Harrells. I worked a record long 32 hour shift in Charlotte, from Wednesday morning at 8am to Thursday afternoon at 4pm. Obviously, this would not be possible at most NICUs, but this particular hospital is a little slower paced. I generally get a full night's sleep, plus Mama brought David up to nurse a couple of times. I left the big kids in Charlotte with Steven and his Mom, whenever the kids are split up it makes it much easier on the caregivers. I guess since I birthed them I don't usually get that option. Ha.
Anyways, while I was gone Steven called me about an email he had received, regarding a young Korean girl who needed a place to stay. She had come to America to work on her English, but the medical clinic she was going to be involved with did not work out as she had planned. Through some missionary contacts in Korea she was "rescued" by an older couple in West Virginia, where she has been staying for the past month or so. The email stated that she would like to live with a family that she could help with household chores or childcare in exchange for room and board, and she wanted to be involved in a local meeting like the kind Steven and I go to. After a moderate amount of prayer and even less discussion, we drove to Asheboro on Friday afternoon and brought her home to live with us, until June. It's interesting how the Lord works. I had recently been feeling like I wasn't doing anything to serve the Lord, besides what I do for my family. Steven has the prison ministry and his speaking ministry, but I had nothing. Then on Sunday we heard a sermon about how Jesus blessed the little children and how we too should reach out to the orphans. Esther isn't exactly an orphan, but she did need a family and a place to live! I noticed her sweet spirit immediately and feel very good about the situation. Her English is not bad and she is very easy to be around. I hope the Lord uses us as a blessing in her life but I think the opposite might be more true in the end!
In addition to our new "family member", we had Leslie and her kids in town this weekend, another friend spend the night last night from Raleigh, and Steven had to go to Richmond, VA, last minute, to speak at a Youth Conference today. Sometimes I think it would be nice if things slowed down, but for the most part we are enjoying the ride! I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds. Until then....

Halloween without the pictures

I'm not sure what's wrong with blogger tonight but I can't get the pictures from Halloween to upload. Oh well, they weren't that cute (the costumes were but the kids wouldn't smile for the camera). Picture this - a 4 year old bumblebee, a 2 year old monkey, and a 5 month old chicken. Well, it was pretty cute. I have to say that by the time Halloween rolls around I am pretty tired of the holiday. I am not one for scary stuff, never have been. I made my friends in high school leave the haunted house before going in on more than one occasion. I always avoid horror movies. And is it just me, or have the yard decorations gotten a little out of hand? A neighbor of my Mom's had 3 "dead people" hanging from their trees. Really? How am I supposed to explain that to my 4 year old? I mean, carve a pumpkin, people, and keep your death obsession inside your home. I just don't get why so many people enjoy being frightened, but I think I am in the minority these days since the box office is full of horror flicks. There's enough evil in this world by our true foe, the Devil, that I don't care to indulge in any extra. Sorry, I will get off my soap box now...all that to say, Halloween was a fun night for the Harrells. We went to a church around the corner and participated in "Trunk or Treat" (a great alternative for tiny legs), then came home and went trick or treating to about 4 of our neighbor's homes. David was pretty tired of being a chicken by that time. I am going to do my best to keep Halloween G-rated in my home as my kids get older....maybe I'll continue dressing them in fluffy animal costumes if they want to trick or treat, I'm sure that will go over really well.
I have decided that it would be ok if the kids didn't grow up....most of the time. I know it's inevitable but they can be so sweet now. I have a few hours of just Eli time every week when Sadie's in school and David's taking a nap. I give him lots of hugs and tell him he's my sweet boy. Today he told me "you're my tweet girl". He also said I was a "dood" (good) Mommy. Tonight he said "I wuv you dooo (so) much". Yea, I'll keep him 2 as long as possible!