Brain Dump

I should be going to bed, but my brain won't shut off, so I thought I'd come write down all the thoughts on my mind. My friend, Andrea, calls this a brain dump, and she just did one herself. Warning: This will be random.

-Christmas is probably the time I miss my family the most. I love having our little family together and having less stress involved in the entire holiday experience, but I miss seeing my extended family and celebrating the traditions we have. We're making new traditions and memories here, though, that will be part of our family history from now on.

-I love my kids. They are so funny sometimes! Caleb told me today, "Someday I'll be taller than Daddy. That will be on Friday." I don't know where he gets this stuff.

-Caleb is doing great with learning to read. He's really picking it up, but he hates doing it. I have to set the timer for 10 minutes for our "learning to read" time, and that's about all he'll give me. But he can read several little readers on his own, so I guess we're doing good. It's so cool to see him learning!

-Some kid was pounding on Caleb last week at an indoor playground I took them to. He was a good head shorter than Caleb and "meaner than a snake" (that's some good Texas lingo there!). He had been chasing my boys and kicking at them and kind of slapping at them, but when he cornered Caleb and began punching him I stepped in (like any good Texas mama would do!). I told him to stop hitting and kicking (I have no idea what adult was there with him because I never saw them). Every time he would start to do something to Caleb, he would look over to see if I was watching (I was), and he would stop. Seriously, people, discipline goes a long way. And kids need it!

-I love my prayer journal and how it keeps me organized about my prayers (and actually remembering to pray for people I've told I would!). You can find my favorite one here (a GREAT Christmas gift!): http://www.amazon.com/Prayers-My-Heart-Debbie-Williams/dp/1582295581/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292250922&sr=8-1

-I don't know why I didn't bring my Willow Tree Nativity with me. I miss it. :-( We only brought one small box of Christmas decorations since we weren't sure what size apartment we'd have.

-We have Lego's everywhere. (which I love)

-We also have books everywhere. (also love) (It's really amazing how many boxes of books I left in storage in Texas.)

-I've still been doing my Scripture Memory, but I haven't been blogging about it. I'll do an end-of-the-year catch-up post on that soon.

-I am still amazed how much my boys think potty talk and noises are hilarious. It starts early. They already laugh at the sound a ketchup bottle makes when you squeeze it. It's only downhill from here.

-I have this feeling that God is preparing us for something big (us being our family). I don't have any idea what it is, but I just feel an anticipation about something. I'll let you know if I ever figure out what it is. ;-)

-I am so excited to be counting down the weeks until we're on Texas soil and I'm spending time with my sister and nieces and mom and dad and grandmothers and...everyone else!

-I am also excited about the fact that the weather will be cooler there than it is here. I have almost no clothing for cool weather, but, thankfully, I have friends who do! I'm not sure my arms will know what to do being covered up. And my feet will surely go into shock when they have to wear shoes and socks. I've worn flip flops every day for the past 18 months.

-Can you believe we've lived in Singapore for 18 months, 1 week, and 2 days? Crazy.

-Apparently I forgot to tell my mom that our contract here in Singapore had been officially extended. Oops. ;-)

-I was surprised when I took a spiritual gifts analysis recently to find out my "greatest" spiritual gift is showing mercy. After thinking about it, it completely makes sense. My husband just thought I was a bleeding heart, and now I tell him all the time, "IT'S MY GIFT!" :-)

-I really do have a heart for the hurting, especially orphans. I feel like that might be a bigger part of my life in the future. Again, not sure how. Still listening.

-People ask me all the time if we are going to have any more children. They are just curious, and that is totally fine. My answer is always, "I don't know." It's definitely something we're praying about. So, if you were wondering, there's your answer. Only God knows. Literally.

-Caleb is finally to the age where I can read chapters of some easy books to him, and I am loving it! We read Beverly Cleary's Two Times the Fun last week, and today we started Roald Dahl's Danny the Champion of the World. I can't wait to be able to read The Chronicles of Narnia and loads of other books to my boys. Their attention spans are growing, so it won't be too many years before they are ready for that.

-We're having fun each night doing our Advent Jesse Tree. The boys love taking turns putting the ornaments on our tree. And I love going through God's story of redemption during this season of Advent, from creation to the birth of His Son, sent to this earth to rescue us from our sins. It's so cool how everything in the Bible fits together!

-Church last Sunday was amazing. The full combined choirs from the English, Filipino, and Indonesian congregations together was stunning. A wonderful Christmas celebration! Our church has 51 nations represented, and it is so cool to experience that!

Ok, I think that's about all the random stuff I can pour out of my brain. Maybe I can sleep now. :-)