Box Baby and a Bowler

Here you have a baby in a box, and a boy with a bowling ball.  Pretty precious kids.

Catching Up

Hmmm...  I think the best way to begin is to mention that Yes, I did take an elk from Colorado this year as part of a successful hunt.  Here's the proof...

This cow was part of a very VERY large herd that passed my position and the experience of taking my first large game was pretty surreal and difficult to explain, so if you want to hear more just give me a call.

Similarly surreal and difficult to express was the selling of our Florida boat, The Irwin.  It took much longer that it should have and I accepted far less than I should have.  However, when the deal went through it was tremendously fast paced and brought with it a tremendous relief.  The initial call came on our family's way up to Atlanta.  Three hours later, the transaction was complete (with the help  from a friend in Panama City) with only a check to clear.  My relief was immediate (though somewhat reluctant as I still did not have the cleared funds yet) and my excitement about never having to drive to Florida again to solely tend to a boat that we can't use on a regular basis was unquestionable.

Next major event of note was Christmas.  The children (of course) love everything about Christmas and this year we added a few things to help them grow spiritually while also enjoying the season a little bit more.  As part of a nightly devotion, we lit the advent candles daily and shared in many stories, activities and lessons from God's Word.  It all culminated on Christ's birthday with a wonderful celebration at our home on base.  Here are the kids expressing their love for each other on the 25th.

Still, after plenty of prayer and soul searching, our family has decided to take a different tack with this year's Christmas celebration.  In short, Christmas will be a way to "gift" our Lord, Jesus, rather than ourselves.  He said that whatever we do for the "least of these," we do for Him.  So, instead of exchanging gifts and setting up stockings for Santa to fill, our family will channel our resources this coming Christmas to helping the least of these.  I don't know if we will do this every year, but we are committed to it for 2013 and the kids are slowly gaining an understanding that December 25th will look very different next winter.

Just as Christ's birthday will be celebrated serving Him via the "least of these," we have also committed to honoring our families' birthday is a much greater way this year.  The resources and time that would have been spent in the crowded malls or scouring Amazon during November and December looking for the "perfect gift" will instead be spend on a birthday-by-birthday basis to honor each family member appropriately on their special day.

Speaking of birthdays...months of anticipation and a very stressful week past the due date culminated at 5:55 A.M. on December 31, 2012 with the birth of Noelle Moriah Sulhoff.  Here is a photo of Noelle in the arms of my hero and lifetime best friend.  I am marveled with every birth how she does what she does!  God is truly so good.  She was 8 lbs, 7 ozs, and she has fitted into the home life with aplomb!  Already at seven weeks she is sleeping through the night and bringing constant joy to all of us.

Well, that's all I can muster up to update ya'll on for now.  I hope it has been informative!

Children's Church Tips, by Andrew

1. Let the kids have a certain talking time during class.

2. Tell a Bible story the kids will like and understand.

3. Have a 5 minute discipline in a time-out for disobeying and disrupting class.

4. Give quizzes to kids to answer questions about the story and other fun games.

5. Have a fun time.

Well, that about sums it up.

At the Present

Just look at the post below and compare to the pictures here! How they've grown! How our lives have changed! It's really so remarkable.

Hannah is here posing with a new birthday toy. She is four now!

Elizabeth is posing with the other member of our family, Baby Bear. Baby Bear is sporting a lovely orange scarf "finger knitted" by Elizabeth. Elizabeth will be 7 on April 4th.

Andrew is posing with his Valentine's Day LEGO mini figure. He will be 9 in less than three weeks!

God, grow with them and in them!

A Blast from the Past

These two pictures were the first thing I saw when I opened Picasa tonight. I don't ever remember seeing them before! I feel I hardly remember those two sweet little people on the couch with their sweet Daddy. I think this picture was taken in the spring of 2007. Andrew had probably just turned four; Elizabeth just turned two; obviously, this was pre-Hannah. This was still at our house on Maxwell AFB, which we only lived in for about 7 months. While nearly 5 years ago, I am struck with all that's happened since then. Let's just say there's been a lot of water under the proverbial bridge. They are precious pictures from a sweet Sunday afternoon of days gone by.

Happy Belated Birthday to Andrew!

Andrew turned eight years old on March 7. He had a skating birthday party with three friends and their siblings (and parents!) in attendance. They got a little bit of video game money, plenty of lemonade, soda, hot dogs and cake and ice cream, and a ton of skating! The party was scheduled from 12-4! We were exhausted, so we quit at 3:30, after the last guest left, of course. As you can imagine, skating in low light conditions did not provide a very good environment for skating pictures. Even with my expertise (ha, ha!), it proved to be too great of a challenge for me! So, only cake and present pictures. He saw the cakes at the commissary and decided to go with a dinosaur cake with an exploding volcano. I know. That's really cool to an eight year old! I was a little sad that he didn't want me to make him a cake or cookie, but I was really relieved that the cake could be marked off the list just like that! The gift he has enjoyed the most has proved to be his Action Bible, from his dad and me. It's most of the Bible portrayed in graphic novel/comic book style. Some of the pictures and the general style of the drawings is a little offensive to me, especially in something as sacred as the Bible, but I've learned to look past that, and spent time reading it with Andrew. He's really learning a lot and we know that the truth is going forth and being planted deep within him. We believe it will grow a strong, tall tree one day and bear much fruit!

Andrew's Everest

Andrew has worked so hard for the last two months. No, he wasn't actually training to climb a mountain, but he was learning to swim and learning to swim in water where he couldn't touch the bottom. To ask him 2 months ago, there was a huge difference! Look at him now. He swam across the entire pool, with only a little break. David and I are tremendously proud of him! We are also very grateful to Coach Kathy and all the older kids who helped Andrew on his journey. He finally did it!

First and Second Lost Teeth!

Well, it's a day for the books, folks! Andrew lost his first tooth biting into his favorite food: an apple. We put it in a small envelope. That was right after lunchtime. Then at dinner, I sent him to the bathroom for something and he came running back saying that he pulled his tooth out, but he lost it down the drain rinsing the blood off it, and could I come, QUICK, to get it out! So of course I went running. It actually had gotten lodged right at the top and if I had used the right tool from the get-go the slippery little thing wouldn't have fallen all the way down. Well, being the problem-solving mother I am, I figured out how to open the drain below the sink and I got that tooth out! Well, just as I had begun to clean up from dinner and was patting myself on the back over getting the tooth out, Andrew came running in again. "Mom, somehow, when I was getting my first tooth out of the envelope, it must have fallen out somewhere in my room and I can't find it!" So, the tooth fairy will only be giving money for one tooth tonight. Maybe the other one, the one he lost in the apple, will eventually show up... I'll post a picture of the little darling with his holey smile soon.

Andrew's Birthday!

Andrew's birthday was a quiet, special day. He turned 6 years old on March 7. It's hard to believe he is so big! He's been growing out of his clothes and shoes, eating two sandwiches for lunch some days, and letting me know he's big enough to do all sorts of activities since he's six now.

The day began with me making waffles and fried eggs (Andrew's favorite) and letting him eat it in mine and David's bed! (A very special birthday treat indeed.) Then, out of the blue, David's voice came through over the computer singing "Happy Birthday"! It was so wonderful!

Then he had his first t-ball practice ever. He did very well. Every hit he got, he would say he got a home run. I didn't bother to correct him until the next practice.

That afternoon, Andrew wanted to stuff candy into balloons, which is what I did for his 4th birthday party. So we stuffed them and then popped them after we ate Papa John's ham and pineapple pizza. I would show the video, but you all may laugh a little too hard of me sitting on and popping balloons. So, I'll just show Andrew with a few of his gifts and his cookie cake with fruit on top, which he always asks for.

"Buzz Lightyear to th......." grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

We are so easily distracted. Andrew borrowed someone else's "Buzz Lightyear" and barely got a wink during his nap today. Instead I spent the afternoon listening to him punching the buttons on the toy. . . "Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!" and laser noises punctuated what would have been a quiet afternoon working on my Masters. Now, I'm blogging about it and a little upset at his lack of obedience. Parenthood is not easy. I can only begin to imagine what God thought when He realized Eve had done the one thing she was not supposed to do. Akiane, the completely amazing and talented 12-yr old artist who has painted works that can compare to the greats, painted an amazing depiction of Eve in the Garden. It showed her in front of what appears to be a bunch of grapes. The fruit is rather the fruit of the tree of good and evil - red and green were the prominent colors of fruit. One of the green fruits shows a tear, where she had taken a bite - and instead of goodness flowing from it, blood came out. This deeply depicts how deceived she and Adam were by the serpent. I wonder if Andrew has been deceived into thinking it's OK to disobey. I wonder if he really understands the err of his ways. But then again, I wonder if I understand the err of my ways when I disobey. Have I really grown more mature or have I just grown older? Unfortunately, the case is probably more the latter than the former. God bless you all!