8 Months Noah - Really???!

This morning was Bible Study and a group of us were sitting with our tiny ones in the nursery waiting for their sweet care-takers to get there and it donned on me that Noah was 8 months...today! Seriously.


I'll confess, that with two tugging the belt straps day in and out, I still think of Noah as infantile...my baby. I forget that he, too is growing older and older every day. Terrible I know. I see now how it's hard for mother's to "let go" of their youngest and allow them to be independent (well into college years even!). It's because they get lost in a time warp and don't realize that they are actually growing, too! I get it, mom. :)


Noah hasn't really changed much from the previous month except that he's a racehorse crawler. He is pulling up more and loves for us to hold his hands and let him practice steps.


Still drinks 6 oz. bottles about every 3 hours or so (I'm really not sure how many in day...I think it varies depending on his naps).


Goes to bed around 8ish and wakes up somewhere between 7:20-8:00.


He takes a short nap in the early morning (if it gets too long, I wake him up), and then a LONG nap when Lincoln goes down. hey both will usually sleep 2.5-3.5 hours for that one which is nice.


He's discovered swinging at the park and LOVES it! His giggles are contagious when he swings!


So far we haven't had any nursery issues which is a blessing. I always get positive reports and most of the time, he sleeps.


No teeth yet!


He's still our tiny. :) He's wearing 6-9 month clothes which is on track, but he seems so small still(of course he does - he's still a newborn...right?)


I think he's long, but we'll find out at his 9 month appointment. I say that because his pants are Capri's! But the bigger size don't fit his tiny waist.


His eyes are still the same color!!!!! I hope he keeps the...holding my breath.


He's getting whacked and tackled more these days by big bad brother. I think, now that he's mobile, Lincoln thinks it's time for him to play...not quite yet buddy.


He's still our quiet one...mild tempered and easily soothed. I'm not sure if he's really all that calm or if it's his comparison that makes him seem that way. :)


***another funny thought - i was almost 2 months pregnant when Lincoln was this age - CRAZY.
We love our little Noah!!! He's added a different dynamic to our family that is precious.



What's up for this next month? I think I'll introduce "more" signing to him.

The Attacking Monkey, Liger, an dMonkey Thief

I forgot about the monkey thief. Check our GK's pretty red bow...doesn't she look cute?


So cute the monkey thought he'd give i a try (if you look at first picture, you'll see this monkey was methodically planning his attack).
And then some of my experience...

And the baby Lions... Seriously, is that lion cub not GORGEOUS??!

Mama's Chicken Spaghetti

I remember some of you asking for this recipe over the course of the last few years and I've yet to really give it to anyone because I keep forgetting!


But it's what's for dinner tonight + kids are sleeping = I have time to write it down for once.


This was a staple in our meal rotation growing up. I call it "mom's", but I think she got it from a lady when we lived in Texas. So who really knows where it came from..but it's REALLY good and quite different than other CS recipes.




Chicken Spaghetti



Ingredients:

4 Chicken Breasts, cooked, chopped

1 Medium onion, chopped

1 Bell Pepper, chopped

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can tomato soup

1 small can chopped olives

1 small can mushroom pieces

8 oz. Velveeta Cheese (I use 2% - tastes same)

1/4 tsp. curry powder

2 Tbsp. Worcestershire

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. paprika

salt & pepper to taste

small pkg. spaghetti noodles



Cook chicken, chop, set aside.
Cook spaghetti noodles, drain, set aside
Saute onion and bell pepper in large dutch oven
Add mushroom pieces, olives, all soups, and all spices
Mix in chicken
Add Velveeta until it is melted
Add cooked noodles (can use as much/little as desired - I tend to use less than more)
Spread in casserole dish and sprinkle with paprika for added color


Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes.


Enjoy!


**I like to do the prep for this ahead of time so when dinner time rolls around, I just throw it all together. In fact, today, i cooked it all this morning while the kids were eating breakfast, so all I have to do tonight is put it in the oven!**

Lions, and Tigers, and...Ligers??

Gentry Safari.

I've only been one other time, about 5 years ago, and I remember thinking "Wow - this place is WILD! How do are they allowed to do all of this?!"

We went today with some friends, and, yup - still thinking the same thing I did 5 years ago.

It's 4 miles of a wilderness drive-through where you get to observe tons and tons of zoo animals in their "natural" habitat. They do have the wildcats in cages (in case you wondered), but OH MY. How did they get SOO many tigers and lions! And Ligers? Yes. They have them.

When you're done with the drive-through (that is fantastic, btw), you get to enjoy all of their petting zoos. They have a huge penned-in field full of goats, sheep, and pot-belly hogs that you can roam through, feed, and play in...then they have a whole separate penned-in part full of kangaroos - yes. Kangaroos. You just run around with them and play with them.

So TODAY:

When drive-up to pay, and after I give her the money, the lady goes

"After you're done driving through, our featured petting area has baby lions, ligers, and baboons you can all play with."

ME: "Okay..." Then I drive off.

Wait. Did she say we can just go play with baby lions, ligers, and baboons at our own risk??? What??!

Sure enough, after the drive-through - there they were. The Liger's cage was open (he shared it with the crazy monkeys) and we kept having to pick the little guy up and put him back in his cage. Really??

Then we saw the lion cubs in their cage. I hesitated to go in, found the lady and asked again, just to make sure.

ME: "So it's really okay for us to go in there and play with the lion cubs???"

LADY: "Yeah."

ME: "Are they mean??"

LADY (Hesitates...NOT GOOD!) "Well...they are getting older so just be careful...they're not completely cubs anymore..."

What??! Seriously...what does that mean??

ME: "Are their teeth sharp?"

LADY: "Well...(hesitates, again!) no, but they're jaws are SUPER strong."

Again - what in the world does that mean?!

So what do I do? I go in anyway. I am at this point, finding it hard to pass up on holding baby lions.

Verdict? They were fine. Super sweet and I never experienced the power of a lion's jaw (praise God).

Then we move over to the Liger/Monkey cage and we all go inside. I immediately start getting attacked by monkeys. I'm still not sure if they had a crush on me or were literally wanting to crush me...but one thing's for sure - I was the only one of all of us getting - what seemed to be - attacked by them!

We ended the experience with lunch at the picnic tables and play time with the kangaroos (which I don't have pictures of for some reason).

All in all, it was a fantastic morning, and I highly recommend the Gentry Safari - especially if you want to play with the lions, tigers, and the mixture of both (the Liger.).


As you noticed, there are no pictures of the baby lions of the Liger or the monkeys attacking me...they will come soon enough. Don't worry. I had my hands too full for a camera but Amanda got some pretty hilarious pictures of it. Will post soon :)

Psalm 51:17

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God,
You will not despise. "(NASB)
 
I came upon this verse one morning last week and it grinded within me for some reason. It has remained on my heart for the past few days and I keep coming back to it.
It embodies humility.
Something I daily fail at, yet have been striving to know more of.
 
I heard in a sermon recently (Mark Driscoll's "The Humble Christian" and "Humility" - podcast) Driscoll discussing how Christianity is set apart from ALL other religions on the basis of this one principle - humility.
 
No other religion presents its "King" in the form of a humble being...as one who washes the feet of others...dines with the lowly...has a peasant birth...is presented as "King" to the people while riding into town on a Donkey (a borrowed donkey, for that matter)...and ultimately sacrifices his life for the people he loves...
 
No other religion (or earthly model/style of thinking) promotes humility.
 
Driscoll poses the question of how can anyone not believe in Christ and the resurrection story and that it was not made up by man? Why would any man make up such a God and story based solely on humility?
 
Truth is - no man ever has. All other religions work to please their gods and are certainly never served by their god. What other "god" do you know that accepts a broken heart as pure worship and sacrifice?
 
What other religion do you know of that offers the FREE GIFT of eternal salvation? You see, if we had to do something to earn that free gift, we would then be contributors...not solely God.
 
Furthermore, the opposite of humility, PRIDE, was the fall of Satan...the first of all sins...arguably, the brunt of all sins. And it doesn't take long to glance at the world around us and note that pride is still Satan's choice ammunition in taking down mankind.
 
So shouldn't the pursuit of humility in Christ be our ammunition in the battle?
 
The NLT states the verse this way:
"The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart,
O God." (NLT)
 
No money. No wise words. No church attendance. No good deeds. No prayers before meals. A broken and repentant heart.

Convicting.

I think the pursuit of humility is one of the hardest roads to travel. It runs counter-culture to every other road, message, and path present in the world and is the direct opposite of how Satan's attempting to destruct lives.
You better bet you'll be met with opposition on such a road.

I know I sure feel the struggle...the anguish...the lies...and feel I've dried up the grace-well in this area far too many times. :)

But let's keep trying.

A friend sent out an email not too long ago that dealt with the premise of teaching your children to be "uncommon". Read it here.

And finally, one last translation:

"Going through the motions doesn't please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you.
I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered.
Heart-shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice." (The Message) 

A Cool Night

Today was a lazy day. I took Lincoln on a trip to finish up Baby Tucker's gift (one of them - I get carried away), and then we just laid around the rest of the day - glorious. Daddy mowed, we all took naps, we played and ate some yummy soup, and then got a burst of energy when the sun went down. The weather got COLD tonight, so we dressed appropriately and went and played in the front yard.

If you'll take notice: Benny is in the front yard without a leash. Those of you that know Benny, know this is NOT NORMAL. Ever since he came back from his 4 month excursion in the wild a year ago, I'm telling you - he's a changed dog. Jason said, "you know, he's really the perfect dog now - he doesn't dig out, doesn't bark, doesn't run from you...none of it!"

We discussed changing his name. God changed Saul's name to "Paul" when he became a changed man...just a thought.

The moon wasn't visible tonight...Lincoln kept throwing his hands up asking us "Where's the moon??!"

 

After playing in the yard (I know - exciting), we all went to a new self-serve yogurt place in Bentonville. It was SO good. Lincoln ate his weight in yogurt (all fat-free at least), made a mess, then when we got up to leave, he had pe-ed his pants. Oops. I still think he had a good time.

Tonight we let Noah get a "big-boy" bath with Lincoln. Noah shocked us at how much he liked it. He never stopped! He got in crawling position and crawled around, from one end to the other the whole time. It was precious.



3g. Fat/190 (ish) Calories

Pure goodness. My friend posted this recipe, I already had the ingredients, so I thought I'd try it out and it was GREAT!

What is it? Pumpkin Spice Muffins.

Ingredients? This is the greatest part:

(1) 1 Box Spice Cake Mix
(2) 1 regular size can Pumpkin

Directions: Mix the 2 together, bake for 14(ish) minutes at 350 degrees and you're done. :) Makes 12.

And on top of that, they're semi-healthy. Low in fat and calories, and loaded with pumpkin! Enjoy.