If Your Heart Is Heavy…

I’ve read this quote on several blogs lately, and I think it is profound. I’ve heard people talk about how holidays can be the loneliness of all the days in the year. They can magnify those empty spots or those losses that we sometimes carry around in our hearts. They can be a reminder that there is one less plate set at the dinner table or sometimes the family gatherings highlight the corruption in family relationships. I personally know some people who dread the holidays, while they serve as a time of  peace and joy for others.  Wherever your heart finds itself on this Christmas, look around and remember that others in that very same room may be feeling completely different emotions. And embrace them and their joy or sorrow. Both yours and theirs.  Hold their hand and together proclaim that He is good.

 

He is gracious, and He is good. 

 

He is just, and He is good.

 

He is merciful, and He is good.

 

He is risen, and He is good.

 

He is faithful, and He is good.

 

He is compassionate, and He is good.

 

He redeems all things.

 

He is the Good Shepherd. 

 

And in this Advent Season, I am joyful the Savior in the manger.

Not Celebrate? Your burden is too great to bear?

Your loneliness is intensified during this Christmas season?

Your tears seem to have no end?

Not Celebrate? You should lead the celebration.

You should run through the streets to ring the bell and sing the loudest!

You should fling the tinsel on the tree,

And open your house to your neighbors and call them to dance!

For it is you above all others who know the joy of Advent.

It is unto you that a Savior is born this day.

One Who comes to lift your burden from your shoulders,

One Who comes to wipe the tears from your eyes.

You are not alone, for He is born this day to you.

                             Ann Weems, Kneeling in Bethlehem

My Little Giraffe

Thomas had a very uneventful 1st Halloween.  We are not big halloween people. Personally, I think it’s kind of creepy. Ghosts, spiders, witches, freaky jack-o-lanterns….it’s just not easy for me to get into all of that. However, I am all about babies in costumes, fall festivals, candy, apple cider, hay rides, games, fires, and fellowship with friends during this time of year!  That is much more the route and approach we plan on taking with “Halloween.” Call it what you want.

 

I used Halloween as a great excuse to waste $20 on a costume (I can’t believe I spent that much on a costume now that I type it out….grrr…) and get an adorable photo shoot with Thomas, at his expense:) It was hot that day.  He was nakie underneath his costume.  And usually, my photo shoots bore him. He’d rather be crawling around in the leaves and eating his pumpkin than sitting still and grinning at my lens. I had my favorite assistant that day helping me. Maybe you can recognize him from his carhartts with a hole in them and gray t-shirt. After all, navy and gray are the only colored shirts he likes to wear.  And sometimes, when we are living dangerously, he comes out in a hunter green t-shirt. We clearly live on the edge in the Smith household.

 

The whole, “Hey Babe (Yes, I call my assistant “Babe”…we’re just wild like that) pick some leaves up and throw them in the air around Thomas please,” idea totally backfired on me. For starters, the pile he decided to pick up just happen to be right behind my little giraffe and consequently, he was in the background of my photos…again! Secondly, his leave-collecting-project left our little man unattended as I behind the lens. This is about the time that the stem on the pumpkin started to look tasty….

And then, as quickly as it began, it was over. Thomas decided he was tired of sitting still once we took the pumpkin out of his mouth, and he was on the go!

So, we decided to do a change of location. We moved into Lady’s Territory, aka-our back yard, and brought along with us the wheel barrow my brother-in-law, Scott, made for me as a wedding present! It was a wonderful way to contain our mobile little man!

We parked it in front of our chicken-less chicken pen. We would love to have our own chickens in there, but we’re not going to buy chickens only for Lady to kill and play with them for her personal entertainment. As I type this, there is a dead little red bird laying in my back yard that she has been dragging around for several days. So, as long as Lady is my protector of the back yard, no chickens can had. We’ll just have to keep stealing some eggs from Papa Joe’s chickens across the road:)

  

Starting to get hot and grumpy…..

Luckily, at that same time, Papa Joe, Mama T, Great Aunt Cindy, and Uncle Greg pulled up in the driveway to see their little giraffe.

Thomas greeted them at the fence and thanked Papa Joe for rescuing him from his over-the-top obsessive Mother. I love those three generations of Smith men.

My Workin’ Men

Sure, we stand at the windows and jump and laugh when Lady comes our way….

 

We work on growing a full head of red hair…..

We read and chew on books about tractors….

We cruise down the furniture and lurch at the camera when our picture gets taken…..

We practice sitting up….

We have our Aunt Summer, Uncle Scott, Cousin Kennedy, Mimi, and Papa in town for weekend visits and get to enjoy a riding partner in the backseat of the car….

We share our books with our cousin….

 

We also share our front porch rocking chairs with Mimi and Kennedy…..

   

We take close ups of Kennedy, even though she always has a rash because we think she’s allergic to every baby food out there!….

We watch Mimi go to the same antique store three days in a row….and then watch Daddy Tom (and Daniel and Kelby) make several trips to haul it all of Mimi’s antiques back home…..

But T-Bird wanted me to be sure I post about his more serious manly side, too. See, he’s already a hard workin’ man. Daniel and I are big believers in “idle time is the devil’s workshop.”  So, we put our Little Red Bird to work:)

 

Here he is watching his Daddy pull up on the tractor…

 

Boys and their toys…..

 

And here was Thomas’s reaction when we told him he could ride/work with Daddy and help him bush hog!! See, there’s no child labor here, only cheerful helpers!:) I love his expression here.

 

And I swear if you pricked Daniel he would bleed orange…..

I have to confess that as the boys worked on the tractor, I was a little bit scared/nervous! Even though Thomas was riding in the cab of the tractor and there was no way he could “fall off”, I was still a little scared. I’m “Mom.” Worrying about his safety just comes with the territory. But, instead of just sitting and watching the tractor go ‘round and ‘round, I went around the farm and took pictures of  nature and other sundry things….

The boys finished up shortly enough and Thomas got in a little more practice learning to walk with Daddy…..

After a hard day’s work, Thomas enjoys a nice, long, hot bath. Well, not too hot or else his little bath rubber ducky will turn a different color and the word “HOT” will appear. Not that I’ve ever made Thomas’s bath water too hot and had that happen:) Just sayin’….

Is this not the cutest tush you have ever seen?! “Junk in your trunk” is an understatement for Thomas:)