A Peaceful Birthday

~ picture taken many years ago, when we lived in San Diego

"Birthdays really aren't a big deal to me anymore," Jeff told me a few days ago.

Yeah.  I know what he means.  As we get older, certain things change.  When, as children, birthdays came accompanied by a rush of excitement and almost unbearable anticipation in the days leading up to the big event, now as adults, we accept birthdays matter-of-factly and enjoy them, but they don't hold the heart-pounding thrill that they used to.  I get that.

However, those of us who love Jeff Fisher the most were not about to ignore the fact that he was turning 41 on this day!!!  Even though our celebration was low-key, it was nonetheless heartfelt and appreciative of who this incredible man is and what he has done for us.  What does a laid-back 41st birthday celebration for a man who doesn't want a party look like?  Let's see...

Yesterday the boys helped me a little as we cleaned some stuff out of the garage.  Jeff had remarked a few times about how frustrated he was by the garage and how he wanted some time to work in it and make a dent in the mess, so I decided that, for once, I could give Jeff the gift of acts of service.  (Not implying that I rarely serve him, because I often do!  But it doesn't usually speak love to his heart like this garage cleaning did.)  It may not be very romantic, but nothing says "I love you" like being able to walk into the house from the Jeep after work without being in danger of falling and breaking your neck in the garage.  ;-)  That was his first gift.  :)

Today, being Sunday, was a day off for Jeff.  The boys joyously sang "Happy Birthday" to him multiple times this morning--sometimes on-key and sometimes off-.  :)  Even Shav got into it, warbling "happy birthday to you!" as we drove through the countryside to a church service.  But before that, Jeff and Josiah and David went running together, which isn't exactly the way I'd like to begin a birthday, but it just goes to show how sacrificial Jeff is because he knew how much it would mean to our oldest two boys!  :)

After the service, we met up with my parents at good ol' Country Cookin'--the reason being that Jeff had a gift certificate for a free meal, being as it was his birthday.  That's one of the perks of being part of the "Country Club."  :)  We gave Jeff his cards there; and although I neglected to take a picture, I will mention here that I LOVE the card the boys gave him.  Well, OK, I'm the one who picked it out.  :)  But three of the boys were with me when I picked it.  They were lobbying hard for me to get him one of those cards that plays music when you open it, but I knew the main reason they wanted to give it to him was so that they could play with it!  :)  I ix-nayed that idea and went for a simple card, with a black and white photo of a dad walking hand-in-hand with his young son, who is wearing a cape from some costume (much like our very own David who is often found wearing capes and other paraphernalia).  Inside, it simply says, "Not all superheroes wear capes."  I hope Jeff always remembers what a hero he is to me and to the four (soon to be five) little ones who are blessed to be able to call him Daddy.

Next on the agenda after we got home was a nap on the couch--always a good thing to include in a birthday celebration.  ;-)  Oh, before that, we gave him his second gift:  pair of pants.  Always useful, never cluttery.  :)

Then tonight, Jeff and I got to go out on a date.  It was very romantic:  shopping (mostly for Christmas) at the dollar store and Walmart.  ;-)  But seriously, it was TIME together.  Time to talk to each other without being interrupted a dozen times per minute.  Time to laugh and be silly and tease and remember the joy of it just being the two of us.  

Some years, our celebrations are bigger...more public...more exciting and dramatic...than this year.  It's always fun to look back and read previous birthday posts (like 2010, 2009, 2008 (a belated birthday celebration, which was good because on his birthday that year, most of our family was sick), and 2007.  But this year, I'm giving thanks for the peaceful, relaxing day we've had together as a family.  And of course, my biggest prayer of thanks right now is for the 41 years of life Jeff has had here on earth!!  :) 

~ picture taken in the spring of 2010, when our friend Evgeny came to visit this country from Russia

Holding Him Longer

Our very quick trip to the library today turned into something much longer than "very quick," and my few books that I wanted to get transformed into 38 items we checked out (added to what we had previously checked out, we now have 73 books, CDs, and movies from the library floating around our house).  Sometimes I try to deceive myself; but in reality, I don't think we're destined for "quick trips" and "few books" when it comes to the library--not in this season of life anyway.  I'm such an impulsive "buyer" when it comes to the library--"oh, this book looks interesting; let's get it!"...and "here's another Anansi book; I should add that to our pile!"  It's truly a great thing that it doesn't cost us anything!!  :)

One of my unplanned book grabs today was Let Me Hold You Longer by Karen Kingsbury.  I had heard of the book and its underlying premise that just as we celebrate the many firsts our children achieve, we should strive to be aware of the lasts as they grow up, and consequently treasure the fleeting time when they are small.  I don't know about you other moms, but I ALWAYS need that reminder.  It's way too easy to get distracted by the overflowing laundry in my laundry room and the umpteenth childish conflict I've had to referee, and lose sight of the preciousness of these days with young children.  So I knew the essence of what the book would say, but had never read it...until tonight, right after I got all the boys in bed, a little later than usual because of our family drive after supper through a nearby housing development to admire the Christmas lights and especially the luminaries set out along all the roads.  After that, Jeff suggested we drive through McDonald's for hot fudge sundaes from the dollar menu; and then we returned home to get boys into pajamas and brush their teeth, then listen as Jeff read from our Advent book (Tabitha's Travels by Arnold Ytreeide is what we're reading this year).  When all the boys were settled in bed, I breathed my customary sigh of relief and walked down the steps to the kitchen to have a little me-time.

Then my eyes spied Let Me Hold You Longer.  "I need to sit down for a few minutes and rest my bones before I do anything else," I told myself.  "I'll just read this book, then hop up and do something productive."

I read it.  My definition of "productive" changed.  Rather than starting the washing machine or unloading the dishwasher or making sure the living room was neat and tidy or putting more wood on the fire, I did the only thing I could do:  walked right back up the steps to see if any boys were still awake that I could love on some more.  Son-time was more important than me-time at that moment.

Tobin, as I expected, was already asleep.  The excitement of the day, combined with no nap, had taken its toll, and he was out.  So I walked into Josiah and David's room, noticed that Josiah was engrossed in a book (I had told him he could read a little longer after we had said goodnight), then crawled into the bottom bunk to check on David.  He, as I expected, was awake.  "Can I cuddle with you a little bit?" I asked him. "Can I share your pillow?"

"Yeah!" he replied. "You can stay in my bed every night until midnight!!"  Such a warm welcome.  ;-)

I didn't know how the conversation would go and had no preconceived ideas or hidden agenda; I was content to let it simply flow.  And flow it did...from David's question to me of "do you know that every night, I get up after you say good night to me and get a little drink of water?" to his query about my body pillow that I've started using during this past week that supports my pregnant body better than a regular pillow ("how does it work?" he asked me) and then to conversation about babies and birth stories (he wanted to hear his and then hear Josiah's) and on to the inevitable question of "how do babies get out?"  What better time and place for sex ed, I suppose?!  ;-)  

I briefly explained about the third hole that women and girls have, using correct terms and managing to keep a straight face and matter-of-fact tone of voice.  And then his quick mind caught the implications of our anatomy lesson.  "You mean," he began, "when you have a baby, the nurse sees your privates???"  

"Yes," I told him.  "The nurse, and the midwife, and whoever is in the room."

With his characteristic exuberance and dramatic acting ability, he let his breath out in a whoosh and said, "I am SO GLAD I am not a girl!!!!!"   :)

 Me, too, David Dear.  Because if you were a girl, you wouldn't be YOU.

And I love YOU so very much.  

David, my David.  You are David the Beloved.  How thankful I am that I didn't miss out on the treasure of our moments together tonight!

Thanksgiving 2011: To Point B from Point A in Beautiful PA!

Kind of a long title, don'tcha think?  


Yup, but I wanted it to rhyme.  ;-)


Here are the previous installments of our Thanksgiving adventure:  Part One...Part Two...Part Three...Part Four...Part Five.

So...where were we?  Oh, yes, Jeff had finished his hillside exploration of a cave and had climbed back into the van, and off we went from my grandparents' former farm to my brothers' current house.  The only picture I have from this segment of the trip is this one...

...taken by Tobin as his puppy dog reclined on my arm.  Let me say a word about that puppy:  it was kindly given to Tobin by our friend Jenny Sacra months (years?) ago when we were visiting at their house one evening and she saw how much Tobin liked the dog.  It is so soft and cuddly--no wonder he expressed so much interest in it!  But to myself, I wondered if he would lose interest quickly and if it would become just another stuffed animal sitting around cluttering up his room.  Not so.  He has continued to love that thing and, during these past few weeks, has been particularly drawn to it.  None of our other boys has ever had such a strong pull to a "lovey," but Tobin does with this puppy.  He carries it around with him, plays with it, gives it rides in his tricycle, uses an old pillowcase from the rag pile to be a carrier for it, absconds a belt from Josiah's closet to use as a leash around this puppy's neck, and, as you can tell from the picture, decided that it needed to go along on our Thanksgiving trip.   Oh, and he named it Molly, which is the name of our real dog, the only one of our three that we still have (we gave Buddy away, and Jasper got hit and killed in the road).  Tobin and Molly are very sweet together.  :)

Anyway, as I was saying, we left the Cove and headed north...and then...well...I fell asleep.  I'm pretty sure that the four of us in the back two seats of the van (that would be Josiah, David, Tobin, and me) all took a nap as we rolled merrily along.  Whenever I get to nap is a merry time indeed.  :)  

With Jeff, our skillful driver, and Dad, our ever-present co-pilot, at the helm, we arrived safely at my brother David's house and enjoyed a wonderfully relaxing evening of adults-conversing, cousins-playing, pizzas-being-eaten, and lots of sitting-around-the-table-just-enjoying-the-time-together.  It was perfect.

With 9:00 PM approaching, Jeff and I and our boys left my parents at my brothers' house to spend the night, and we went to the hotel where we had a reservation.  It was a step up from the place in which we stayed last year; and best of all, we had made adequate preparations to make sure that NO CHILD SLEPT IN BED WITH US!  It's the little things, you know, that make all the difference.  ;-)  

Last year, Shav had slept in the playpen and Tobin in bed with us.  I'm pretty sure Tobin was the only one who got much sleep in our bed that night because, boy, is that child a helicopter in motion when he sleeps!  This year, we reserved a crib from the hotel, and Shav slept in that; then Tobin got to be in the playpen we took along.  It was much, much better.  :)

It still wasn't the easiest thing to get all four boys settled down, all sharing a room like that.  I think especially because of Tobin's late nap in the van, he found it hard to go to sleep.  If I remember right, we turned the lights out around 9:30 PM; and, although I didn't stay awake this whole time but dozed off from time to time, Tobin was still making some noise an hour later.  It seems that by about 10:30 or so, everyone was quiet--not bad for the night before Thanksgiving in a hotel three states from home!  :)

Lesson #2: Five Seconds After You Die...

The intro to this series is here.

Lesson #1 is here.

When 2011 began, I started reading two books, Crazy Love by Francis Chan and Radical by David Platt.  Although I liked both books very much, I sheepishly admit that I didn't finish either one.  Yet.  Maybe I will in the coming year!  However, I'm fairly certain that in one of those books, I read something like this:  Five seconds after you die, it will not matter...  Then fill in the blank with whatever.  It will not matter what car you drove.  It will not matter the color of paint on your walls.  It will not matter how high your laundry was piled.  It will not matter what your bank account balance was.  And so on and so forth.  I wish I could find that quote; but although I have looked through the books, I can't put my finger on it.  But you get the idea.  Simple enough, right?

Simple, yes, but also profound...wise...true...and possibly life-changing.  It changed me this year.  Here's how...

Like most other "normal" women in my circumstances (30-something, married with children, homeowner, middle-class, American woman), I discovered that a significant part of my time and attention was devoted to worldly thoughts and pursuits.  I don't mean worldly in the sense of blatantly sinful and contrary to God's Word; I mean it in the sense of temporal, earthly, materialistic.  I mean things like, "What color should we paint the living room?" and "How much would it cost to get new hardware for our kitchen cabinets?" and "I need to start looking for matching comforters for Tobin's room (since he'll eventually share the room with Shav)." and "If I yank those shrubs out of the flowerbed, what should I replace them with?" and "I sure would love a new light fixture for the hallway." and "How should I best organize my recipes?" and "Isn't it about time to redo our blacktop driveway?"  None of these are bad things, in and of themselves; but--the big question comes--five seconds after I die, will they matter?

Although I'm only 35, I think I hit a mid-life crisis this year.  Incidentally, if this is mid-life, I guess I'll die at 70, rather than the 98 I was shooting for (my great-grandmother's lifespan).  ;-)  But on a serious note, I found myself so dissatisfied with the fleeting things of this earth and, consequently, so eager to give my life to something more meaningful than paint colors, light fixtures, and flower seeds.  Even while I cleaned my house and did laundry and cooked meals and helped in the garden and did all the routine tasks a wife, mother, and homemaker does, I found myself longing for greater impact, greater service, greater sacrifice, a greater pouring-out of myself for no other cause than the mission of Jesus Christ.  "Is my highest goal this summer to see how many quarts of home-grown tomatoes I can can?" I would ask myself.  "Does God really want me to devote myself to learning how to make homemade laundry detergent?  Should my striving be to learn how to bake bread?  ISN'T THERE MORE TO LIFE THAN THIS???"

As with so many things in life, there is a good side and a bad side to all of this angst.  The negative of it was that it challenged my contentment at a deep heart level.  Is it enough for me to pour out myself for my little family?  Are the monotonous, but very necessary, tasks such as laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. actually acts of worship?  Can I offer them up to God?  Will I trust that, in His own way and timing, He'll lead me if there are other avenues in which He would have me serve?  My soul did a fair amount of searching about purpose and fulfillment; and if I am disciplined enough, I'd like to write more about that at some future time.

But let me get to the good part.  The simple question of "five seconds after I die, will it matter" helped me to shift my mindset from a selfish, materialistic one to a more other-centered, heavenly-minded one.  My eyes were opened more than ever before to the immense amount of needs--physical and spiritual--around the world, and suddenly the things I thought were important were much less so.  I realized how blessed I was to even have a home in which to live, even if the walls never got repainted.  I saw how short life was and how unimportant it was to waste time worrying about weeds in my flowerbed when I could focus instead on people.  Even the old couches that, until 2011 began, I was so eager to get rid of, were transformed in my eyes, from something I couldn't wait to throw away into something that I was grateful for and wasn't in a hurry to change.  In fact, the thought of spending several hundred dollars to replace those couches was not appealing to me in the least.  In 2010, I would have leaped at the chance to upgrade our couches.  In 2011, I was much more reluctant to do so--not because of any sentimental attachment to the couches, but only because of a major shift in mindset.  When children are literally starving to death, when people are living and dying never having heard of Jesus, when families even right here in our town are struggling along without hope, who cares what my couches look like???

Now, about those couches, you might remember that, nearly a month ago, I mentioned that we did get new (well, used) couches that we bought from a friend.  I'm happy about these new-to-us couches.  I like them very much.  I'm grateful for them.  I'm thrilled to have them.  I'm also thrilled that we were able to put our old couches in the free section of Craigslist and have someone come pick them up, rather than us just hauling them away to the dump.  So yes, our new couches are wonderful.

But they're just couches.  

Five seconds after I die, they won't matter.  However, for now, while I'm still alive, I'll enjoy the couches, I'll fall asleep on them ;-), I'll sit on them often to read with my children, I'll welcome others into my home to relax on them and share our hearts together in comfort, I'll thank God for them, I'll watch my boys jump on them, and I'll admire the life that is lived on them and the people that are nurtured through them.  But I'll also remember that they're just couches.

I feel my thoughts rambling on and becoming less coherent as the night advances, so let me try to stop and sum up by saying this:  asking myself the simple question, "Five seconds after I die, will it matter?" has benefited me greatly this year by changing my perspective on what really matters and by helping me to--quickly and routinely--evaluate my actions and my thoughts.  What do I dream about?  What do I plan for?  What do I use my resources to accomplish?  Home decorating?  Landscaping?  Making my little nest "perfect"?  Being an incredible gardener/homemaker/cook?  Winning recognition for the outstanding job I'm doing in our homeschool?  Building my blog platform and making money from it?  No!  No!  And again, no!

Don't get me wrong: none of those things are inherently wrong; and as a matter of fact, those homemaking roles are God-given and valuable!  But I hereby confess how lopsided I had become and how selfish and focused on this life my thinking was.  The proper balance needed to be restored in my mind and soul, and 2011 saw good strides made in this area.  May it continue in 2012!

My heart's deepest desire, which burned more brightly this year than previously, is this:  to make an everlasting difference, to affect the eternal destiny of those around me.  Because five seconds after I die, that's all that will matter.

Little Artists at Work (and Other Christmas Tidbits)

One of the verbs that guides the way I strive to mother my children is this:  notice.  Barbara Curtis and her wonderful book Small Beginnings are to be thanked for this.  :)  

Being a stay-at-home mom--and what's more, a homeschooling mom--means that I get a lot of time with my children, which occasionally makes me want to crawl back into bed and hide under the covers so nobody can find me, but which is usually perceived by me to be a GREAT blessing!  :)  All of that time together means I get a lot of time to watch them, to study them, to notice how they're growing and what they love and how they've changed since a year ago and what really lights them up.  So here's one thing I've noticed recently...

These boys--especially the older ones--particularly Josiah--have grown so much in the area of taking initiative.  They'll come up with an idea for something and then run with it, not always waiting around for me to coach them how to do something or for me to get out the supplies or what have you.  

For example, I had gotten some Berenstain Bears books from the library primarily for Tobin and Shav to enjoy; but a few nights ago, Josiah happened to pick one up and read it in the sometimes interminable is-supper-ready-yet? gap between late afternoon activities and dinnertime.  The book was about a spelling bee, and all of a sudden Josiah got into spelling.  He wanted me to have fourth-grade spelling and vocabulary lists for him so he could study them and be quizzed on them.  He's paid more attention to spelling in the last few days than he ever did before, and it wasn't because I told him he had to.  I delight in seeing him take initiative like this!

Another example (and the main point of this post): the morning after we put up our Christmas tree, Josiah went to work.  He wanted to draw the tree, and he couldn't wait any longer.  He got out paper and colored pencils and drew not only the tree, but the living room scene, complete with window, curtains, tree stand, and some presents.  In real life, our curtains are a light yellow/tan, not blue, but we'll just chalk his interpretation up to artistic license, shall we?  :)

After he had drawn the scene, he wanted to add a little POP to it, so he used glitter glue to accent each bulb on the string of lights (and he even used some on the bows on a couple of the presents, although it's harder to see that).

Seeing Josiah at work made David get inspired, so he grabbed a sheet of notebook paper and started drawing our Christmas tree, too.  The w-i-d-e trunk makes me smile, and I see here that David drew a cross at the top of the tree, which is different than our real tree.  When Jeff saw David beginning to draw the branches on the right side, he helped him get them a little bigger to make more sense proportionally (you can sort of see David's original branches on the right, and then the larger ones Jeff helped him with).  But the rest of this is all David's work, from his own initiative and his own head.

Next to get into the act was Tobin; and although this piece is clearly the work of a child and not a prodigy, I loved seeing how he imitated the way David was drawing the branches.

The next day, David decided to follow Josiah's example and draw the living room scene, not just the tree.

I was especially impressed by all the details he included: two candles in the window with cords leading to the outlet, the tree skirt, the little fence around the tree, etc.

Knowing that Tobin wanted to do some "art" but that he loses patience with his inability to replicate what he sees, I set him up that day with a paint-with-water book.

He was happy.  :)

Meanwhile, the only boy not creating art was Shav.  He stayed in motion, racing circles around us on his tricycle.  :)

What I appreciate the most is that I didn't have to say, "OK, boys, for art this week, let's all draw the Christmas tree!"  They came up with the ideas and the implementation by themselves, and all I had to do was sit back and applaud their efforts.  I'm so glad to see their self-motivation.  :)

In other Christmas news, we've enjoyed having our Christmas books out again.  When I pack away our decorations at the end of the season, I also put away the books, knowing that we'll enjoy them more when they're fresh to us the next year.  Over my lunch a few days ago, I read this (I almost always eat lunch after the boys are having afternoon naps/quiet time, so it's my usual pattern to grab something to read while I eat):

The words and illustrations in this sweet book combine to make it truly a delightful treasure to read.

In even more Christmas news...  One of the decorations our boys love the most are our nutcrackers.  I think we have six of them, and they're nothing fancy (most were purchased at the dollar store); but the boys have so much fun marching them around, talking with them, and acting out various scenes.  I've discovered one thing about nutcrackers this year:  they try hard to always look dignified and stately...

...but "dignified and stately" is a hard look to pull off when someone's dropped you and knocked your hat off.

Suddenly, those white tufts of "hair" sticking out from your head look ridiculous, rather than grand!  Needless to say, we've had to use glue several times to keep all our nutcrackers together!  :)

And the last Christmas tidbit for today...  so MANY times, I have an idea in my head of how I want a picture to look; but when I snap the shutter and view the image, it's nothing like what I imagined.  However, for once, I planned and took a photo that turned out EXACTLY like I wanted.  In my eyes, it's perfect--meaning, it lives up to the vision I had in my head.  Wanna see?

When I see it, I think...cozy...warm...colorful...festive...sentimental...old-fashioned...special.  When I see it, I feel...

...love.

Wordless Wednesday {They Match}

The Vested Ones

Of all the extracurricular activities that our boys could be involved in (and they--particularly Josiah--have been exposed to a lot: tennis, soccer, swimming, basketball, art classes, and robotics come to mind immediately), I'm delighted that at the top of the list for them is the Shenandoah Valley Children's Choir.  

Since music has been a lifelong love of mine, enough so that I have a degree in it, it's not surprising that I would want my children to be a part of this organization.  But the most wonderful thing to me is that they want to!  

My parents were both involved in music (my mom chose it for her major in college, and my dad, although he became a doctor, also participated in singing and playing the trumpet), so it was natural that I would follow in their footsteps.  But to their credit, they never forced me or even "strongly encouraged" me to follow that path when my turn in college came.  Instead, they didn't voice any resistance when I began college as an English major, and they stood by supportively as I felt myself drawn to the world of music and decided to change my major.  But it was my choice, and I have always been grateful for that.

I've wanted to allow my children to have their own choice in the matter, too.

I remember during a violin workshop Josiah was participating in, one of the other students was a boy, younger than Josiah, and built like a linebacker.  It was obvious that he did NOT want to be there playing the violin, and the guest clinician quickly picked up on that, too.  When he asked the young student what he liked to do, the boy replied, "Play football."  Of course.   "Why is he here then?" I thought to myself.  "Why are his parents pushing him to do this?"

I realize that there are certainly times when a child must be pushed to do what he doesn't like, whether it be learn to read or learn to eat casseroles.  But with extracurriculars, why push it?  Why turn a football-loving boy into a violinist?  There's nothing sacred about playing the violin, so why not let him follow his heart's desire?

By writing this, I'm obligating myself to follow this standard, too.  How blessed I am that my sons are showing a deep love for and appreciation of music!  I could not choose a finer activity for them than being part of this incredible organization.  So many others have said it before me, and I myself have said it many times previously, but I'll say it again:  it's AMAZING that our relatively small town should have such an outstanding opportunity for our children musically, and I can hardly believe how much the choristers are taught in regards to music theory, ear training, etc., some of which I did not learn until I went to college!

Josiah loves being a part of SVCC, David loves being in the Explorers I class (and looks forward to when he'll get to be on stage in a plaid vest), and Tobin loves sitting in on David's class (and later imitating some of the games and vocal exercises at home, even teaching them to Shav).  :)  I remember how, in years past when my children were younger, I would attend the concerts and think, "Will I ever get to see a child of mine on stage with that choir?  Oh, I hope I do!"  

Now that the years of attending the concerts while having a child in the choir are here, my cup overflows.  How glad I am for the privilege of being an SVCC choir mom!  :)

A few pictures from this past weekend's concerts...

Looking down a hallway, I saw choir members warming up before the concert...

Even the warm-ups are fascinating to me as I watch how Ms. White and Mrs. Anderson work with the children's voices...

Josiah is on stage here, in the second row from the back, the second boy from the right...

Josiah is also on stage here, but I'm not even going to try to describe where! Trust me, he's up there somewhere.   :)

A tradition of the Christmas concert is that towards the end, the song "Jingle Bells" is sung; and younger children are invited to come up to the front and ring jingle bells during it.  David was SO excited to do this during Sunday's concert; and in this picture, he is standing directly under Ms. White's right hand and he's wearing a blue shirt.  The two things he was most looking forward to were being allowed to stand on the pew while being recognized as a member of the Explorers class and going up front to ring the bells.  :)

Afterwards, there was a cookie and hot chocolate reception, and Josiah got a chance to have his picture taken with Ms. White.  Prior to our involvement with the SVCC, I had heard much about Ms. White's strictness and toe-the-line philosophy (which everyone agreed led to excellence).  But I had not heard much about her kindness and softness toward children.  We've been blessed to see her show that side to Josiah.

I'm so proud of my Vested One!  :)