October 2013

I was looking through some pictures the other day and wanted to get some of these pictures posted and stories recorded. I'm so hit and miss with our blog, but I was reading the book that Joel made for me (for our anniversary 2 years ago) of this blog from beginning to Caleb's first year and it made me want to be more diligent about writing our family story down.

In September we added a second kitty to our family. Socks was becoming too aggressive and was picking on Hannah to be the one he could "dominate". He would often come up behind her onto his hind legs and start to attack her and she is tough enough, that she would turn around and hit him which would make him attack her again. We decided that he needed another kitty to have for wrestling and playing with. So we got "Tiger". For the first week we had to keep a close eye on the two, making sure that Socks wasn't hurting him, but within the second week, Tiger had warmed up and began wrestling with Socks and standing up for himself. All the kids loved having another "kitten" in the house again as Socks had already grown so much! He's been a very sweet addition to our family and the two cats get along really well. Directly after bringing another kitty home, Socks stopped attacking Hannah too! He just needed someone below him on the totem pole, I guess!

We celebrated Joel's birthday in October. He's such a good Dad and amazing Husband. We are all so blessed to have him in our lives. I love how he leads us. The Lord has gifted him with "vision" and that plays out in so many ways and I'm so thankful. So many times, I bring some problem I'm having with one or all the kids and because he can see where they need to grow or become he knows how to parent them "today" to get them where they need to go. It's a gift for our whole family and I'm so grateful!

A much loved man!

He makes our home so much fun! I'm often explaining to the kids about their personality differences, trying to teach them how to have grace with each other. One thing I repeat the most is: there are 3 people in our family who enjoy teasing and being teased; Daddy, Elijah & Hannah and 3 who don't; Mommy, Abby & Caleb. I'm so glad that Joel likes to tease and be teased, it creates such a fun atmosphere in our home. He brings fun to everything; reading books, jumping on the trampoline, cleaning up toys, even just everyday things like eating a meal. He can turn anything into a game intended for fun and I love that about him! Many times, I've been grateful that it's not the opposite, that I like to tease and have fun all the time, it's so easy to follow his lead in that.

Here's a perfect example...reading one minute and tickling the next! Love that...for the kids, not myself! ;)

Another example is when he would use the leaf blower to gather all the falling leaves. Instead of gathering them and placing them in the yard debris container, he first filled the trampoline with leaves, giving the kids an extra fun place to jump! Then he let the kids bury him and played "monster" with them sending happy giggles, squeals and laughter throughout the neighborhood. See, he just makes everything fun! Love, love, love that man of mine!

Happy Birthday to our fun-loving, joy-giving Hubby and Father! We love you!