Soul Sisters

I bit off way more than I could chew taking a 6 month old to camp! What was I thinking? It was my adventurous spirit, I guess. That same adventurous spirit didn't help me pack very well to accommodate these ridiculous surroundings for a baby. I had been at camp all of 6 hours and was exhausted and ready to pack it up. My 2 1/2 foot clearance on my bunk bed didn't lend itself to feeding Birdie on it nor did the community sinks provide a very sanitary place to make the bottles. My need for help, however, wasn't lacking...definitely, not lacking. I was bombarded by 3rd-6th graders vying for a chance to hold Birdie, burp Birdie, feed Birdie, etc. It was a little more than both of us could handle. As for Beatle, she's in her element. I went to BR at dinner and told him I was ready to pack it up when he told me that the camp directors already thought I was nuts and had offered a room separate from the cabin for me and the girls to stay in. Yay! I felt guilty but at least I was able to stay and for good reason...

Beatle became a Christian on Tuesday night!!! With all of her little heart, she believes! Let me preface this by noting some of the things the Spirit has been doing in her life before camp. This summer, she has been to two Vacation Bible Schools and learned the ABCs of the faith. Then, her grandpa was preparing to preach a funeral her last few days with them in Oklahoma. She came home with lots of questions about heaven. I looked up some scripture about what John tells us heaven will be like from his accounting in Revelations and shared it with her. We looked the stones we couldn't identify up on the Internet and that got her asking lots of questions about how certain people in our family died and then she kept talking about how she just couldn't wait to go to heaven. Then, this previous weekend, she kept breaking down and getting all upset and emotional. I couldn't figure it out; that's just not like her. When BR or I would ask her why, she'd just say that she was a bad person and "kept feeling like everything was her fault." BR was sensitive enough to realize that he thought the Spirit was unveiling her eyes to the fact that she sins. He shared some scripture with her to help her understand that everyone sins but God still loves us. Then on Sunday, her best friend's big brother and sister got baptized. She normally doesn't go to big church with us but did this week because grandparents were in town and she wanted to stick with them so she got to witness the baptism. Charley told me later that Beatle came up to her that day and said, "I saw you get baptized." Then Charley asked, "Have you made the decision to be a Christian yet?" And Beatle said, "Not yet but I'm really, really thinking about it." :)

On Tuesday night, when it was time for invitation at camp, BR had several boys approach him so I stood up with Birdie in my arms just to be available and as I went to take his place, Beatle came to the back of the sanctuary. I got to lead her to the Lord. It was an awesome experience!!! She was ready. She knew in her head these stories but now she's feeling them in her heart. I had never really heard of anyone accepting the Lord at 5 but one of our dear friends who is an amazing example of a Godly wife and mother shared with us that she did too. Beatle may question her decision when she gets older but already I see proof of the Spirit at work in her heart and she's changing from being me-centered to God-centered. I love this!!! One of the best years at camp for that very reason--our daughter came to know the Lord in a very personal way.

Tomorrow, we go to Oklahoma. I haven't been home in 6 months. I'm ready. :)

Also, we registered Beatle for Kindergarten today--it was a trip to do all of this paperwork to enroll my child into a school in Hot Springs, AR of all places. I know it's not Bangkok, Thailand or anything but compared to the rest of my family, this is pretty far out there. We got a bus number (should we need it), an account with the cafeteria and found out who her teacher is. It is the one and only Mrs. Bettis! She's not in the same class with her best friend but we've prayed about who she should get and have had such delightful conversations with Mrs. Bettis that I think it will be an excellent fit. God puts us in certain places for a reason and I think it will be a wonderful year of growth for Beatle.

Misc.

My morning cup of coffee is becoming increasingly important to me. I now understand when people say, "You caught me before my first cup." and other goofy things like that. It's pretty pathetic. What's even more ridiculous is that I "can't" even brew my own pot of coffee. I mean, sure, if someone held a gun to my head I could figure it out and I would even brew a pot every so often at work but here at home my brewing skills have gone awry. Plus, the way I figure it, BR got me hooked on the junk so he's my supplier now.

Birdie's all over the place. She's sitting up, rolling everywhere and "creeping" to where she wants to go. We're all going to camp in a few hours so this should be interesting--I haven't taken a baby to camp before. Last week, we celebrated Birdie's half-birthday at Chuck E. Cheese in Little Rock. We had to go to LR for BR to get fitted for a groomsmen tux so we just saw it as a good opportunity for us (minus Birdie) to eat cupcakes and demonstrate our Skee-Ball skills.

As usual, I'm forgetting some of the awesome things that Beatle has said and done in the last few days. No good. I'll have to get better at jotting them down before blogging.

We come home from camp on Thursday to register Beatle for Kindergarten and then have a 24 hour turn around before we leave for Oklahoma to celebrate the two weddings of our closest friends. The girls and I are staying in OK for almost 2 weeks. It'll be a lot fun!

Trips, Teeth and Toots

We had a really good trip to Arlington. I LOVE PRE-TEENS. They are so much fun and still care what you think. (Is it wrong that my new best friend is a 12-year-old? Seriously, we bonded. I'll just pretend I'm her mentor.) It was really fun being back in TX again--brought back a lot of good memories.

Two noteworthy things about the mission trip: I was really stretched on this trip and I've decided I'm not going on any more. No, but seriously, let's talk about the "stretching" part first. Anyone who's ever played Scruples with me knows that me and the "special" folks don't really get along. Amanda, you know. My heart hasn't really been bent to their plight in a tangible, let-me-get-my-hands-dirty sort of way and I've had some crazy (and scary!) run-ins with them before. Well, for our afternoon VBS, I could see Dasani coming a mile away. First thing I noticed was he wasn't holding his hands right and then, when he got closer, I saw him drooling. Who did he hone in on? Me. If I was ever concerned, I knew that I was definitely going to heaven after letting him pull me around the playground for 2 hours and feeling his drool spill over onto my hand. The second day, he was already waiting for us on the playground in the Texas heat. He found me again and, honestly, I was really dreading another afternoon with him. He was a total animal lover and knew where every inside cat liked to perch or where every dog had their crate. We even spent about 30 minutes stalking a friendly squirrel. I decided to take the opportunity, knowing full well that while he may not be able to comprehend the full lesson we were teaching, I could get him to remember that God loves Dasani and God made Dasani. If you've seen "Up" you'll understand why that wasn't the best time to start introducing those thoughts. "Who loves Dasani?" "Squirrel!" "Who made Dasani?" "Squirrel!" :) Every day, I spoke his "language" a little better; learned what he liked and didn't like, heck, even the last day I pulled his baggy shorts up off the ground when they dropped three times. Awkward and hilarious! But, you know what he finally remembered that last day when I asked? God loves Dasani and God made him, too. I learned so much from him and really stretched as a person. Thank you, God for using Sani to change my stupid heart. And, about me not going any more, I'm definitely considering it because while my heart is good, I seem to make at least one mortal enemy on every mission trip I go on and I don't know if it's worth it anymore. It takes someone with the patience of Job (or Brent) to live in tight quarters with me for a week--no matter how nice and relaxed I think I'm being. (Let me just clarify one thing though: To the kids, there is no one cooler than Ms. Corrie.) :)

Sad story: Beatle got a bad ear infection while in Oklahoma. I felt a little helpless being 3 hours away and no car to get to her. Honestly, I'd rather it be her than Birdie just because she could communicate with the grandparents what was going on. But, she's already feeling better so I'm glad.

Tonight, I play the role of a life time...THE TOOTH FAIRY! Yes, Dr. Lance pulled her baby tooth and it wasn't as terrifying as she had anticipated. The second pic was taken right after it was pulled so it's still a little bloody (also, I got some good video footage that would rival David)...

She thanked me after her prayers tonight because she said that I made the day special. Do you hear that??? It's the sound of my heart warming. Cheesy, I know. Oh, also, if anyone needs a good gift for a girl this age, look for "The Tooth Fairy Tale" at Hallmark. It's such a cute book and comes with a little pillow to put the tooth in.

I'm going out with this story: We are smack-dab in between camps so I had nothing for us to eat this morning. I threw some prunes and graham crackers at Beatle before we left to go work out. We were talking about prunes and reminisced about how they made her just absolutely rip toots at our friends' Amanda and TJ's house when we visited. I was mortified. She was concerned it would happen while she was at the gym but then we talked about how it takes a few hours for them to fully get through her system. "Well, that can just be my alarm clock for the afternoon then."

Blasting Off

Alright...we are fixing to roll out with the preteens. Destination: Arlington, TX for a great week of mission work. I'm doing the last sweep through of the house making sure we've gotten everything and about to turn off the computer but it's kind of boring when you get the house nice and tidy but have a few minutes to spare. God forbid I dirty any dishes or throw anything away in the trash that could be stinky in a week. The girls are in OK with their grandparents having fun. This sure beats last summer when Beatle and I were left behind.

Some funny things Beatle has said recently:

She was raving about my cooking. "Mom, you sure make some good, good fried chicken." Hmmm...it was ribs. Maybe just a simple case of mistaken identity?

Then, (I've already told you this Momo) I was tossing Birdie up in the air (probably pretty recklessly according to most mature adults) and we were having lots of fun. Beatle said, "Mom, what if you didn't catch her?" I told her how they would probably have some questions for me at the hospital and how I'd probably get in trouble. With our foster care endeavors, she knows that sometimes when parents get in trouble, their kids go live somewhere else for a little while. She loyally announced that if she got taken away, she'd "poop in their butts!" hahaha!!!! What??? "Oh, I mean, I'd poop in my pants." hahaha!!!

She "donked" her tooth when she was 18 mos old. It "died" and turned gray but it's had some more issues lately so we went to the dentist Friday and he recommended we pull it. He thinks she hit it again somehow and it's really just a sick tooth that we don't want to get any sicker and cause her pain if it abcesses. So, a week from this Tuesday, the tooth fairy comes to visit the Roberts house for the very first time!

Birdie will be turning 6 mos while we are apart. It's so crazy! 6 months ago, I went through heck after having her and couldn't even imagine being/feeling normal again but I've bounced right back (as most women do) and can barely remember that crazy day. When Beatle turned 6 mos, I had a little party and made a big deal about it. This time, it came so fast--I realized last week that I'm still trying to cram her into 0-3 mos clothes! She's still 2 mos old in my mind! (Which completely explains why my body still looks like this...until I remember how old she really is. Bummer! No more excuses.) Children are such treasures! And, it's crazy to think back on this time last year when it was just me and Beatle here at the house while BR was gone to TX. Birdie was just a little gummy bear in my tummy but we didn't know her yet and all of the joy she's brought to our home.

It's time to blast off! Keep us in your prayers if you think of us this week. It's a good group we are taking and we're ready to tell some kids about Christ! (and ride Superman: Tower of Power)

Our First Family Picture

Danielle, this is for you...and Craig. :)

Boy, oh Girl!

Just ordered family pictures! Yay! We had these pictures taken some time ago...dare I say, the beginning of May? The photog took almost a month to edit and upload (she's semi-professional and has a day job and 4 kids so I can't really hold that against her) and then so many things were happening in our lives that I finally was able to sit down and get an order together with my mom and mother-in-law. I'm so excited to see them and have them hanging on my walls. We haven't had professional family pictures made since Beatle was 3.

I was reflecting back on pictures and the first professional pictures we had made when Beatle was 9 mos old, I dressed her just like a boy. She had no essence of girly-ness at all! I was inwardly totally offended when people remarked on what a cute boy she was when we were waiting to get them made at The Picture People. It was Christmas and I felt rushed to get them done. I knew that with my post-partum weight gain, I would be the hardest to clothe but inevitably waited until the last minute to figure out what I was going to wear and then built BR's and Beatle's outfits around mine. I was consumed with being match-y and Old Navy didn't have any hunter green dresses for girls so I got her a striped onesie, khakis, and converse looking shoes. I just grabbed what I could find literally minutes before our shoot. No bow, no frills, just boy clothes. We also had our dog in our pictures. Who are those people?!? I'm not all about the bows and frills now (I've just now started "playing" with Beatle's hair and teaching myself to French Braid or maybe it's just "Corrie Braid" because I could just be making up a new hairstyle) but I do try to let my girls look like little girls. Ha! And, definitely don't think I'll have a dog in my pictures ever again. I'm soooo ready to retire that old picture of us to the hallway and replace it with fresher version of the Roberts Fam. Some of our closest friends here didn't even recognize that was us! haha!

Well, I do have other things to blog about but it's late so I'll have to save it for another day! (I know you will all be waiting on pins and needles.) :)