Happy Birthday Wesley!

I think of the past three years with Wesley as being very joyful. We laugh often because of his presence in our family. The words of a blog really cannot capture his personality. Maybe I can share a recent conversation that describes how other people view him (we've had similar conversations with other friends and teachers):

An acquaintance-friend was a volunteer in Wesley's Bible study class a few weeks ago. She had no idea he was my son until she saw him with me after class in the parking lot. She came running up to me and said:

"Is Wesley your son? I just spent the whole morning in his class and was right by his side. He is so smart! I spent the whole morning watching him play, do puzzles, sing loudly and enthusiastically during hymn time, and listen attentively to the Bible story and answer many of the questions. He was the star of the class. I spent the whole morning wondering, Who are Wesley's parents?, What kinds of things are they be doing with him at home? and Where do they go to church? Now I know!"

Yes, I'm a proud momma, but I can't take credit for how God is working in his life. I know is he is eager to learn and eager to expressively share many things about himself. All I can do is seek lots of wisdom in helping him grow and become who he is meant to be. It's a privilege and quite entertaining for us to enjoy him every day and see the full development of his personality. We eagerly anticipate where Wesley's journey will take our family in the future.

Tonight as I was tucking him in, I said, "Happy Birthday tomorrow, my little Turkey baby!!". To which Wesley replied, "Goodnight, Turkey Momma!" I can't think of a better way to kick off the Thanksgiving holiday than to have a birthday celebration.

Home Decor Swap

So I tried something new this weekend. I invited a bunch of friends over, told them to bring all of their old home decor stuff and we swapped it all out. It was a blast! I had originally read about the idea on The Nester's blog (oh, how I would love to hang with her for a day), and my decorator friend Michalle had also seen the post and wanted to do a swap also. She helped me coordinate the whole thing.

There were several amazing things. The first was how much stuff people brought! It was buckets and buckets of stuff, good stuff, they just didn't use anymore but was too nice to just put in a garage sale. The second amazing thing is the people we originally invited are not the people who came. It turns out it was a busy weekend for most of them, so I gave my dear friend Alicia permission to invite an additional group of her friends (who I also know since we all attend the same church) and they all came at the last minute and brought some really cool stuff to swap. The last amazing thing is how happy people were- everyone was thrilled to find at least one thing they had been looking for to decorate their home, and they didn't have to spend a dime to get it.

My great find were these new bedroom lamps, the perfect addition to our bedroom makeover. I also received a new centerpiece basket, a gold candle stand which I'll be painting black, several candle holders and some leftover decor donations I'll be taking to Goodwill this week.

Now, the ladies in my community group want to do an accessory swap: hats, scarves, handbags, jewelry, shoes, etc. Who's in?

Welcome Home!

We're happy to report the safe return of "Daddy" to the family. Dave had a successful trip and is re-adjusting better than a newborn to the concept of "day" and "night".

I'm always amazed to see how God shows up in the details of our lives while we are apart, and this trip was no exception. Not that I can't handle single parenting (I have plenty of practice), but there are times when a momma can just use an extra pair of hands or a little break. I had prayed about who might be able to mow our yard, but it didn't grow a bit (even though it rained every other day). And during this trip, several men showed up when I needed them the most: A friend's husband who played with the boys at a party so I could socialize, a brother in law who offered to change a diaper so I could order lunch at a restaurant, and my dad who spent two nights at our house so I could have some company and have a little break from cooking (my dad is a super grill out chef!).

With our regular schedule, a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Stewart and dinner dates with several friends, we were super busy and only had two free nights during two weeks. The boys stayed healthy the whole time. In this new month, we will start filling our Thanksgiving calendar with the blessing of having our family back together again.