My Ebenezer

There are two other young moms in my neighborhood that I know about. They've been really friendly to me, and invited Noah and me to go to the zoo with them today! We all had a great time, and Noah behaved himself very well I must say. Here are a few pictures of the morning. All the animals were especially active and close-up today, which was a rare treat. Temps were in the 70's this morning, which them a lot less lethargic. Noah has a long way to go before I let him take charge of the camera! This was one of about 10 shots like this. He got lots of photos of ceilings, floors, and random body parts. :) Noah and Ace. Ace is 2. The closest I've ever been to the female lion! Isn't she pretty? Andrea, Ace's mom.

I was organizing my desk (exciting, I know) the other day and was reminded about what my life was like back when we first moved to Florida in 2004. Back when I was yearning for a baby. And it hit me. I never thought way back then that I'd ever be a mom, and here I am! The Lord was so gracious to me, and the reality of just how gracious was made new and real to me again yesterday. Praise the Lord for answering my most fervent of prayers! I am so thankful for Noah. I know sometimes it must sound otherwise, when you catch me in the middle of a nitty-gritty day. And let's face it, rearing a three-year-old brings LOTS of nitty-gritty days! But the blessings are there too in abundance. Example: the other night as I was putting Noah to bed, I asked him if he'd always give me hugs, even when he's 15 years old. And he put his squishy little arms around my neck and said in a Very Loud Voice, "Mommy, when I'm 15 years old I will always give you hugs!" Such sw...

This video shows a pretty normal verse memory time for Noah and me. I thought you (Mom) would enjoy seeing it in progress. The verse for this week is Psalm 34:14. Our goal is to get the whole thing memorized by the end of the week, but this was from Monday, when I was just focusing on teaching him the first part. Enjoy! P.S. I am well aware that "Depart" is not best defined by the word "stop." That was the first thing that popped into my head. I'm not quick on my feet, you know. Over the course of the week, I'm telling him that "Depart" means to "leave" or "go away from". Just so you don't all send me dicitionary definitions! :)

I've been trying my hardest for the last day and a half to upload some videos and I can't do it. I'm going to keep trying, mainly because my Mom is lonely for some Noah videos and I don't want to let her down. And because I like Noah videos. They're great for days when you just want to chuck everything or cry and you need a reminder that your child can be a sweetheart. :) Everyone needs reminders like that, right? In the meantime, while my computer struggles and strains to upload my gigantic-file videos (I think I can hear it groaning), I thought I'd relay in print something that Noah sang this morning. It's from the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. If you haven't seen this, it's a classic! Go out and borrow it from your library and hope that it's one of the 6 DVDs that the library owns that is actually in good working order. Sidenote: Does anyone else have this problem? You borrow DVDs from the library because, well, because they're FREE, and ...

Brianne and Titus were here today so Jen could remember who she was and actually think while she ran some errands. A necessary breath of fresh air for any mom once in a while. Brianne and Noah haven't been getting along too well lately. * Ahem *. This is because Brianne has moved past the age where she didn't mind if someone took a toy away from her. HA! Prior to Brianne obtaining a sense of justice, she and Noah got along beautifully! Noah would proceed to play with any toy he wanted, regardless of whether or not it was in Brianne's hands at the time, and she would watch it happen without incident. Noah was the only selfish one in the bunch. :) However. Having now two equally selfish preschoolers attempting to play together immediately turns the grown-up in charge into the Referee. Complete with zebra-striped jersey and a whistle! I'm contemplating giving Jen such an outfit for Christmas. Kidding. Sort of. The whistle sounds. Pfweeeet !!! "Holding. Noah Rowley. Fi...

1. I have set out my Fall decorations, even though it is currently 91 degrees outside. Somewhere it looks and feels like Fall! 2. I borrowed Mary Poppins from the library the other day, and have been showing it to Noah here and there. It's too long a movie for his attention span of 4.8 minutes, but I'm enjoying it all over again. 3. My all-time favorite scene from Mary Poppins is "I love to laugh" with Uncle Albert up on the ceiling. Genius! 4. I have been exercising again! 5. I love exercising. 6. Just not at 6am. 7. Noah just woke up from his nap. 8. We've begun "C" week. Noah is soaking up every letter I fire at him. 9. This one's kind of gross: I found little bugs in my (sealed) sack of flour. I know! 10. Then I proceeded to take everything out of the cupboard and wash it all down with bleach water. After I threw out the flour of course. 11. My laundry for the week is all done. And folded. And put away. All in the same day! ...

Lately the Lord has been reminding me that I need to take time to get to know Him better. For those who don't know me well, or only see me at church (where I tend to put my best face forward, don't you?), the Real Me has struggles. Don't be shocked, I'm sure you do too. We all do. My biggest struggles are with fear, with anger, with discontent, with unthankfulness, with an unspeakable lack of wisdom...with unbelief. Unbelief? Yes. I'm learning that all of my pet sins are rooted in unbelief. Unbelief that God is sufficient, that He has provided me with all of my needs, and that whatever I'm going through at the moment--everything from a defiant toddler to a plumbing problem to the very good chance that I'll never have more children-- are His will for me right now. Am I thankful? Are you? I've been reading God Is More Than Enough by Jim Berg as the last in my Summer reading list, and it's so good. Steeped in Scripture. Also, as part of the Ladie...

Tonight Noah found a chapstick he had received in his stocking last Christmas. He said, "Mommy, did I get this for Christmas?" (Okay, for one, how on earth did he remember that?) After thinking a minute he followed up with "We should do Christmas again sometime!" A very good suggestion, don't you think? We just might have to do that!

Well, I have spent the necessary time tweaking the HTML on this blog. Don't be impressed, I have no idea what I just said. Long story short: I do believe I have found a better format and *hopefully* my changes will stick until I decide to unstick them! Enjoy the look for September. I think I will be changing the background seasonally so stay tuned! P.S. What is HTML??

"Mommy, you want to shoot my gun?" my little Noah asks me, holding out to me a stick. (Sidenote: why is everything a gun, a sword, or a slingshot to my 3-year-old? Please? Someone?) "Okay", I say, not really knowing what I'm doing and not really into the whole we-must-shoot-everything-that-moves game. I do my best to hold the gun. And, apparently I forgot to put on makeup and comb my hair that morning. That's what I'm thinking about. Hey, at least I brushed my teeth! "No, Mommy, that's not how you hold it. Let me show you." "See, this is how you hold it. Your left hand has to be up here and your right hand has to be here." Yes, folks, he really did say that! And correctly named his left and right hand! That's now what I was thinking about. "See, and then you have to cock it like this." "And then you shoot! BANG!" As if I didn't know what sound a gun makes. :) "Here you go, Mommy. Yo...

Titus and Brianne came over to our house last night so their parents could go on a date. Here are a couple photos of Noah and Titus bonding while Brianne ate dinner: Titus, is that a smile? What you can't see is me behind the camera acting practically insane to get Titus to smile. He humored me, I'd say. A very little bit. This makes me want another one. No, wait. I already wanted another one. This reminds me that I want another one. It's the fat cheeks and thighs that do it to me I think. :)

I had promised back in "A" Week that I'd show you how our apple crisp turned out. Here it is! Or, was , rather. We managed to scarf it down in one day! The portion you see that's missing in the photo was taken over to our elderly neighbor lady shortly after lunchtime, and the rest of it went shortly after dinner that night. Josh wants us to make brownies for "B" Week this week. The squishy over-ripe bananas sitting on my countertop are begging me to make Banana Bread instead. Maybe we'll have to do both! "Both" also starts with "B" you see.

Today we were supposed to go to the zoo, but a girl can change her mind. Especially when the weatherman was forecasting today to be a full 5 degrees hotter than anticipated earlier in the week. This wouldn't make the difference if you were talking about the range between, say, 72 and 77 degrees. Beautiful is beautiful. But when you're talking the difference between 88 and 93... Well, would you want to walk around a hot zoo with a hot 3-year-old, looking at hot animals who are all too hot to do anything but sleep, only to get back in your roasting hot car where the hot seatbelt buckles sizzle your fingers? I rest my case. And, since we didn't get to it yesterday, I thought today would be the perfect day to get out The Cookbook! Mom, do you remember this? I purchased this darling cookbook at school with Good Behavior Tickets I earned in the 4th grade. I've loved it so much that the cover has fallen off, and there are food spots on several pages, as well as (weirdl...

I feel a little guilty admitting this. This is what is so puzzling and guilt-provoking to me: That I can love my child fiercely, be willing to sacrifice for him, delight in his quirks (and he has them!), wish he would never grow up, love him more than I have loved any other child, and yet I have come to crave and relish Noah's Naptime more than any other time of the day. Naptime. There's a blissful quietness brimming with possibilitites all wrapped up in that one word, don't you think?. What will I do with Naptime today? Will I read a book? Take a shower? Read the mail? Blog? Mop the floor? Swab the toilets? De-clutter the house? Polish my toenails? Exercise? Plan the meals? Fold Mount Laundry? Make a phonecall? Empty the dishwasher? Read my Bible? Take a nap myself? Oh, I could go on and on... Today, being that I'm a little under the weather with a cold and a UTI of all things, I decided to go for the Take A Nap Myself option. It. Was. Glorious. I rummag...

I'm sticking with the blog background that Google automatically wants to give me. I've had so many problems trying to get the other one to "stick." If I ever get a minute to work out the kinks, I'll change back to something that's a little more "me." Until then, enjoy what Google Blogger likes to call "Picture Window." Maybe computer classes should be next on my list of enrichment activties!

When they're really little, I don't know that kids have much, if any, imagination. Or maybe they just can't verbalize it. Whatever the reason, we are just now beginning to witness Noah's imagination beginning to blossom. Every morning for about an hour, I send Noah into his room to play by himself with his toys. And every morning, I hear snippets of play talk such as, (Noah, to himself, in a feigned deep voice): "Go away! Quickly! Before the giant sees us!" "I am going to shoot you!" (another, deeper voice says) "No, you're not!" "Okay, Trainmaster, time to get on board!" (yet another voice) "Okay! Beep the horn!" Oh, that I had an imagination like his! Mine took a leave of absence several years ago, and I haven't heard from it since. How about you?

I took piano lessons as a young girl until my love for ballet overcame my love for piano, at which point I ditched piano and grand jeted ( sp? it's French; who knows?) my way into 3 years of ballet lessons. A lot of good that did me. Sure, those years of ballet were some of my most enjoyable, and I can now pirhouette or arabesque my way around my kitchen (and I do, believe me!), but what does that really gain me other than strange looks from my family? Matt and Jen recently upgraded pianos and kindly offered us their old one. I have been wanting to play the piano again for a while, but up til now had no way to practice. (Air piano only gets you so far!) And graciously, Jen has offered to teach me piano lessons! I have a lot of bad piano habits that will need to be corrected, but she's willing to try, and I'm willing to learn! Hopefully soon I will be playing hymns! Practice time will be my biggest hurdle. Here goes!

This post is brought to you by the letter, "A". This, my friends, is "A" Week here at the Rowley household. Anytime we can, we're pointing out A's when we see them. Yesterday we read books such as "The "A" Book", "Ten Apples Up On Top," and colored in a picture of the letter A. I had Noah trace a row of capital A's, and a few lowercase ones as well. I think tracing might be a bit ahead of him for now, but he gave it a valiant effort and I was pleasantly surprised with how well he did. Today we did some math problems with apples. (Put one apple on the table, add one more. How many do you have? Put 3 apples on the table, take one away, how many do you have? and so on and so forth). The rest of the week, I'm planning to make Apple Crisp with Noah, and take him to the zoo to see all the Animals, and especially visit the ones that begin with A. Our Bible verse for the week is "All have sinned and come short of the glory ...

Men and their guns, I tell you what! That's a pellet gun that my husband is aiming and Noah has a Nerf dart gun. But in their imaginations I bet they're both holding some kind of Really Impressive Gun. "Ooh, what are they shooting at?" you wonder. A Luvs diaper box. Really. Men. :)

Heading out on our way to Boston. That 15-passenger van was full of our family, and Josh and I were driving a car separately. I've lived in Florida long enough to appreciate soft grass when I see it! I sat down in the grass at Boston Common to savor it awhile. Josh and the Capitol Building in Boston Some of our group on the ferry ride to see the USS Constitution. Matt out in front of the welcome center at The Wilds of New England (a Christian camp). We toured that on Monday. It's beautiful up there in New Hampshire! Our little taste of Fall. We are back from our trip to Connecticut. The traveling went very well going there and coming home, so thank you to those who prayed! We enjoyed beautiful weather while we were away. Just Gorgeous. Even the 2 days or so that got above 90 degrees felt much cooler minus the sauna-like humidity that we experience in Florida. The nights always cooled off, which helped too. As vacations should be, this one was full of fun and also a good bit...