Funny Little People

...saying funny little things.

And a couple of other random moments from a week in the life. Word.

1. Addison: "Does the Holy Spirit have a middle name?"

2. Cadence: (Running to me in her usual high-drama style and very whiny voice, I can tell she's going to tell on Addison....) "Mommy, Addison is trying to break my heart!!" (because he was scaring her)

3. I was having a conversation with Addison about fasting. He told me that he would like to fast (this was brought to his attention by a recent fast Chris and I did) and we were talking about what it means. I started talking about how it helps us hear God better because we put so many other things in our mind and heart like video games, TV (relating to this six year old's world), etc. As I was talking he started motioning for me to be quiet and I said, "Why?" He said, "Well, I'm trying to do what you said. I'm trying to listen for God." He later told Chris that he really would love to hear what God sounds like. Oh son, that such instant obedience would be in every area of life. Like when I say stop wrestling your sister. Or put your shoes on. But all joking aside, it was a tender and precious conversation about the things of God. Kingdom goodness.

*And he also said he wants to hear God because he wants Him to say that he's going to marry Kaylee (one of our friend's daughters at church whom he has taken a little more interest in than we'd like lately....seriously- six years old). *

4. Usually when one thinks of hazardous hobbies things like skydiving or storm chasing come to mind. Perhaps swimming with sharks. Sewing, not so much. Apparently so (no pun intended) much with me. Because I sure did sew my finger into my machine. Well, not really, but the needle pierced through my fingernail and broke the needle tip right off. That's right, I broke my needle. It sounds worse than it ended up being, but still.... there was blood involved, people. Is there some kind of merit badge for this in the seamstress world like when you make your first pillow? First sewing wound? Probably not, because I'm sure normal people do not do such things.

5. Speaking of pillows, I threw a couple together yesterday for the couch and finally finished my picture wall project. Happy me.

Yes, I can see a couple of pictures are crooked. This wall gets bumped several times a day, therefore, I am constantly straightening frames. Also, I am not thrilled with how the colors of my pics get altered when I put them on Blogger. Kind of dull, not as vibrant as the original pics.

6. Cadence: "Look my hair is going down my back. That means I'm almost a princess." Of course.

7. I am enjoying another blast of winter today, although the snow missed us and went north (where many other family members are enjoying, or not enjoying it). Sad because we had to cancel our life group tonight, though. I'm really going to enjoy going through Lisa Bevere's study, Nurture. She hits on my passion buttons every time, I tell ya. She articulates many things on my heart.

8. Upon writing #7 above, it just occurred to me that random winter storms do tend to pop up at will around here, sometimes well into March....

(praying) Lord, if You could keep said storms away the last week of February it would be really awesome. This is a very important week in our life, so we really need to catch a plane to Nashville. Thanks. In Jesus' name, Amen.

More about this later....

And now I'm done. Peace out from the Pate house.

Grateful

Ps. 37:25 "Once I was young, and now I am old.
Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned
or their children begging for bread."

A verse that has always brought me comfort. Words to a jammin' praise song that we love to do (Just Wanna Say). And something that jumped out of the Bible and became a living picture to us.

Cultivating an environment of giving and gratefulness is something I'm more mindful of these days with two little sets of eyes becoming more aware of life happening around them. I'm thankful for opportunities to show our kids ways we can give to help others. Chris explained the Haiti situation to Addison when it happened and showed him where it was on his globe. Addison prayed for the children that night. Then yesterday he saw a commercial on one of the cartoon networks with young people encouraging other young people to go to a website to give to the disaster. He came and got me, rewound the commercial just to show me, and suggested that we do that so we can help. I love his little heart. Children are self-absorbed by nature and do not know any other way to be unless we help show them that there is a big world around them filled with people that are hurting, struggling, and in a lot worse shape than we are. I see the natural capacity for great compassion in Addison, and we're doing all we can to nurture that and provide experiences and opportunities for that to grow.

I'm so thankful that God is blessing us so we can show our children that God's Word is true, and He is faithful to take care of His children. We could choose to look at our financial situation as lacking and constantly worry about how we're going to make it all happen (which unfortunately does happen sometimes), but I'm very aware of what Chris and I are saying, especially in front of our kids. I'm choosing to overlook my emotions and fears and change my perspective to see that our situation is a constant opportunity for God to show Himself strong and provide for us. Over the weekend, we had two different families in the church approach us and say that they were praying and God spoke to them to give money to us. They did not know it, but it was perfect timing and we really needed it! The coolest part about the whole thing is that we got to turn around and testify to our kids, telling them about how God spoke to those people and blessed us through them. They were amazed. In our line of business security doesn't always come from the places the world looks to for security (namely finances)! But I want my family to find their security in God alone, so they can trust Him and feel safe and comforted knowing that He is taking care of us and will always take care of us. My heart is overflowing with thankfulness to God for these tangible, teachable moments so that it's not just something we're teaching in theory. At the ages of six and (almost) four, my children already have the physical evidence of God's provision and are learning at a young age that we can trust God. How awesome! It's also very important for them to learn to be content and not always be looking for more and focusing on what we don't have, but constantly be thankful that we have what we need! It will be exciting as opportunities come for us to be on the other end of that kind of blessing as well so that we can experience the joy of giving together. We already get to experience this in the little boy that we support through World Vision (who Addison used to refer to as "the little boy who lives far, far away").

I want my children to be children, carefree and void of the "adult" worries of life. To feel safe and secure, knowing that their Daddy and Mommy are taking care of everything and more importantly that God is. To let the grown ups be concerned with grown up things. To be free to be who they are. And as I pen those words from the heart of a parent, I can't help but feel that's how God feels about us as well. We would do well to let God take care of the God things, and we just do what we do.

Peace out from the Pate house.

Thursday Ten

1. Addison: "Mommy, I wish you could pick when you go to church. That way we could go to church on the 22nd, daddy's birthday." Me: "Why do you want to go to church on his birthday?" Addison: "Because then he would have his party at church. And that would be his present- God. God would be a great birthday present."
2. Note to self: Do not play Playdough Ice Cream shop with the children when you're fasting. I swear I almost ate that ice cream playdough.
3. Lots of talk from Cadence about turning four. Apparently this is a big milestone for her. I'm hearing about big girl everything. Taller. Can do more things. Moving to the pre-k class at church. It's the subject of most of her conversations these days. If we are ever talking about doing something (especially things that she is not allowed to do or is too old for her to understand), her response is always "Well I can do that because I'm almost four and almost a big girl."
4. I am in a flurry of choreography DVD's and extra practices at the gym this week, taking up all of my spare (and not spare) time. It's launch time again. Though it's a lot of work surrounding the launch of the new stuff (especially when you teach three programs), it's only every three months and it's really a lot of fun. I love my job. I really do.
5. Two shows are here this week that we watch. The return of Chuck, and American Idol. This is the time of year that wants to try and make us couch potatoes. Not really- we only have a small handful of shows that we watch, but we're crazy faithful about watching them. Thank God for the DVR. It's the little things in life, you know?
6. Cadence is going through this phase of randomly and suddenly transforming into Sonic (as in Sonic the hedgehog- about as opposite of anything girly as you could get). She will refer to herself as Sonic and will not respond to you or directions unless you call her Sonic. "No not Cadence, Sonic." I don't know.
7. Speaking of Sonic, we now have a new betta fish named Sonic who is blue. For those of you that do not know, we had a red betta named Flash that was living a long, happy life until Mommy and Daddy left it in the car overnight when we went out of town for Christmas. It was below freezing. You figure it out. But here is Sonic (see Appendix A Below)
8. Praying about taking down our Christmas tree this weekend. For those of you that are laughing at this and think we're a little late in the game, it was well into February when it came down last year. What can I say- I love my Christmas decorations. And we've been busy.
9. Still sewing away! I've been looking online and dreaming of projects as I find fun material. Made a couple of other things for presents, but I can't post pics yet as I'm going to be making some more for other presents of people that might be reading this blog :)
10. It was art day at the Grace museum again for homeschool kids on Tuesday. This time it was learning how to draw a portrait of a person (they showed how to do the lines through the face, proportion and all of that stuff) and then making it interesting by "coiling" the portrait. They did this by using clay to shape and put over their picture. It was fun, and this time our fellow homeschool buddy Seth was there. This is a cool opportunity once a month, and it's free! Always good to get Addison to think outside the box to do abstract stuff since he's such a "black and white" kind of guy. It's a challenge sometimes for him to just be free and not have someone give him guidelines to make it *exactly* how it's supposed to be, because he thrives in following directions to a tee and achieving perfection as a result. A blessing and a curse! See our pictures below.

Have a great weekend. Peace out from the Pate house.

Appendix A: Sonic. His coloring really is interesting- some red streaks at the front and some green mixed with the blue. Hopefully this one will die of natural causes.

Here is an example I found online of the "coil" picture they were making. A portrait, but abstract.

Cadence's version (with a little help from me, although the glob that is the bow was all her)

And Addison. He told me his expression was supposed to be yelling, but I told him it looks kind of "surprised" also.

Thursday Ten

1. Began the ruthless purging and decluttering of the Pate house this week. I suppose this is somewhat cliche for the beginning of the year, but it needed to be done. Tackled Addison's room (see Appendix A below) and began Cadence's today. Got sidetracked because I got slammed with some sinus nonsense that made today kind of a wash. But I must press on- I'm trying to get through the house, room by room, by the end of the month.
2. Tuesday evening we watched Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs as a family, with popcorn of course. Love that movie. Addison said during the movie he would make it rain popcorn if he could. When we watch movies in the living room as "family time", we turn around our couch to be right in front of the TV (which is now huge, thanks to our "new to us" pass along TV we hauled home from Arkansas - yay for generous families!) :)
3. Mommy: (to Addison) " I can't believe you don't like almonds anymore! You used to like them just fine. You're crazy!" (saying in disbelief as he turned down almond M&M's...I can barely fathom such a thing) Addison: (oh so serious)"Mommy, some things change when you get older...." Wow. Spoken like a true Addison James Pate.
4. We have discovered that I have a freakish talent for winning Bingo. I always thought that there was no skill involved in playing such a pretty straight forward game, but after playing 20+ times just to make sure (at Chris's leading because he was getting frustrated...) and I only lost like twice.... what do you do with that? Just saying. Addison gets a kick out of it.
5. When I was cleaning out Addison's room, I came across a large construction paper pad that had some writing samples from when Addison first learned letters. (See Appendix B below) Wish I would have dated those pages (should have been thinking), but I'm thinking he was around four, and not very much four at that. I remember being amazed at the time at how well he was doing. And now that Cadence will be four in a little over a month, I'm re-impressed at his knowledge at that age. (Not that Cadence isn't a bright young lady or anything)
6. Another sewing project completed. (See Appendix C) I'm having a lot of fun! I had some left over material from a wall project in Cadence's room, and I decided to piece together a case for her pillow. Her pillow is so disgusting, and she is completely against getting rid of it. She will not accept substitutes! I was afraid she wouldn't even accept a case, but since it was pink and cute she embraced it. And anyone who has seen the embarrassment of a pillow that it was will be glad to know they don't have to look at it anymore!! And the best part is that it was free!! Well, if you don't count when I bought the fabric for the original project months ago I guess!
7. Cadence: "Mommy, did Daddy go work out at the church?" (Have no idea why in the world she said that...) Addison: "No Cadence, Daddy went to go get us some money."(at the church) Well, I guess that's somewhat accurate.
8. Some people might boo me out of cyberspace for this, but I actually am loving the cold weather. I've always been a lover of winter, and therefore I am delighted that we are actually having one. It's in the 20's as I'm writing, and I'm pretty sure most of our family spread out in TX, OK, and AR is actually colder that that. Wow! We'll all be ready for it to be over right about the time the seasons change.... funny, it's like God knew what He was doing when He made seasons....
9. It's nice to be back in our rhythm of working out and schedules. Well, almost. We are still out from the dance studio, but we start back up Monday so Monday Mania will commence! It's always nice to get a break from the norm, but it's always nice to embrace it when it's there waiting for you as well :)
10. I love the beginning of the year. It's so fresh, blank, and full of potential. I'm spending some time thinking about the person I want to be in 2010, things I want to improve on and things I need to do differently. And I'm also celebrating a few things I feel good about that I just want to be better and better (like my marriage with my amazing husband). Not one for resolutions really, but I'm all about goals and dreams. And all about setting some at the beginning of a new year to give you some vision and direction. So I'll be writing the vision down and making it plain so that I can run with it (Habakkuk 2:2-3).

Peace out from the Pate house.

Appendix A: What appears to just be an orderly, clean room actually represents hours of getting rid of things and deep cleaning and organizing (mostly the closet not pictured). And thank goodness now that I can sew I will hem up those curtains I ghetto pinned up!

A clean room is a happy room :) And check out the board game collection under the TV- most of those are new! Hours of fun for the Pates!

Appendix B: A precious sampling of beginnings

Appendix C: The new pillow case already on the pillow. The green blanket underneath was made for me with her bedding when she was born.

Took a strip of the left over blanket material to add a little pizazz!

What do you do when you don't have enough to cover the whole pillow? Improvise and make it two-sided!

This is what the material was originally bought for. These are on the wall above her bed. And her walls are really a much nicer shade of green in real life, unlike this pic.

First project of 2010!

I was very delighted to get a new sewing machine for Christmas. I have just started messing around with sewing and haven't made much more than a pillow and a cover for Cadence's nap mat (when she went to Mother's Day Out) with a borrowed machine. But now that I have my new machine, I'm very inspired to get going! It's always something I've wanted to do, and it's a skill I'd like to pass down to my daughter because I believe she's going to be off the charts artsy-craftsy!

I saw this little project online and decided it was perfect. Cadence colors all of the time, and her crayons are constantly spread all over the house and getting lost. I saw this and knew I wanted to make it for her. It's not perfect, but for my first attempt at something like this I am pretty proud!

It's called the "Crayon Roll Up"- this is the full view unrolled

Each crayon has its own little pocket

My only little glitch was putting the folded side of the pocket on the bottom, leaving the raw edge on the top of the pocket, which you can see in the pic. Oh well- I wasn't going to start over because of it!!

Then you fold the flap down over the crayons (to keep from falling out) and roll it up! Also perfect for sticking in a purse to entertain little girls on the go!

Voila! Cadence has been playing with it since I finished :)

Hopefully the first of many projects to come!!