Enlisted!

I just finished reading a great book to the kids entitled, Teddy's Button. It was originally written in 1890 and is about a little boy who dreams of being a soldier. His father was a soldier who was killed in battle and the boy wants desperately to follow in his footsteps. His pastor explains to him that he can start being a soldier for Jesus right now by enlisting in God's army. The boy decides that he wants to do this and learns that he must constantly be fighting his number one enemy, the bad side of himself, who he has decided to name "Bully." He is always getting into trouble but continues to ask Jesus to help him fight Bully, and love people that he doesn't want to love, and be a brave soldier for the King.

Anyway, the reason I'm giving the short book synopsis is because Jake said to me tonight as I was putting him to bed, "I just enlisted in God's army." When I asked him how he did that, he said that he asked God to forgive him for his sins and that He heard God tell him yes in his mind. It was so cute and sincere and he was so excited about it, and so was I.

We have never said anything to our kids about "praying a prayer" in order to be saved. We know that they would very readily say, "Sure, I'll do that." But, we want them to really understand what it means to follow Christ. We want them to understand what He has done for them and their need of His forgiveness, and we don't want to relegate it to simply praying a prayer and thinking that they have their ticket to heaven...because it's so much more than that. It involves repentance and faith and heart change. Unless I'm missing something in the gospels, I don't think that Jesus ever once said anything about praying a prayer and asking Him into your heart in order to receive salvation. He spoke of belief and repentance and following Him. So, we have never specifically taught our kids that they need to "ask Jesus into their heart." We have tried to teach them, however, that we need God's forgiveness of our sins and what it means to have a relationship with Jesus, and we have tried (very, very poorly) to lead by example.

So, I'm hoping that Jake's declaration of "enlisting in God's army" involved sincere repentance that will bring about a gradual heart change in him as he learns more about what it means to follow Christ. I'm excited to see what sort of battles he is going to fight and win for Jesus!

Nothing to Report

I haven't given a pregnancy update in a couple of weeks, because I don't have anything to report right now. I had a Dr. appointment last week, but it wasn't an ultrasound and it's too early for the doctor to check for a heartbeat with the doppler. So, she couldn't tell me if things are still good or not. My next ultrasound is in a week though, so we're, of course, just hoping to hear the heartbeat again. I've been getting really nervous again because I'm not feeling the same pregnancy symptoms as strongly as I have been, but I'm hoping that's just because I'm getting later in the first trimester. I had another dream last night that I miscarried, but, in the same dream, Jake and Addi and I were hanging out with Courtney Cox and Jennifer Aniston, so I'm hoping that the one part of the dream is as unlikely as the other! I'll let you know in a week what things are looking like.

Second Shot on Stage

If you recall, Addi's debut on the CBS stage could have gone a little better. She was passed over in the handing out of the bells, and to say that she didn't handle it well is a bit of an understatement. She got a second shot on that same stage today though, and I am pleased to report that I did not have a screaming, inconsolable child up there a second time around. Granted, she didn't actually have to do anything this time - there was no singing or speaking involved, and no shaking of any bells required. She only had to sit up on the stage and listen to the teacher tell them the Bible story (the purpose was for all of the women to get a small glimpse of what goes on in the CBS children's program). But still, she did it quite well! I suppose anything would be an improvement over last time, but I am happy to say that I have no meltdowns to report! (I did learn my lesson from last time though and chose not to wear flip flops today...just in case. My foot is still scarred from this injury I received last time!)

Jam Session...in Spanish!

Jake and Addi were practicing their "Days of the Week" Spanish song yesterday and it turned into an impromptu jam session with Jay...

They were all rotating between instruments, and the piano was in the rotation as well, but I will spare you and won't include every version that I recorded. I will, however, add the instrumental only version (with Jake gettin' down)...

Valentine's Day Heart

Jay and I don't ever do anything for each other for Valentine's Day (I did manage to make some heart shaped rice krispy treats for the munchkins though!). I know, I know, nothing for anniversaries, nothing for Christmas, nothing for Valentine's Day - we're not normal. I promise that it really doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with our marriage! We are just not sappy, sentimental kind of people, and neither one of us has the "love language" of gifts, so it works out well for us. This Valentine's Day, however, although we weren't hoping for little gifts, or candy hearts, or heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, we were hoping for one very special heart - one real, actual, beating heart. And we got it!

We went in this morning for our ultrasound to check to see if the baby had a heartbeat. I was so nervous all morning, I felt like I would throw up (not due to morning sickness). As we sat in the waiting room, I was sweating, my hands were shaking, and I was practically in tears. I had no idea what to expect when we went in there, and I was just praying for a healthy heartbeat. I have definitely been feeling pregnant, so, despite the discomfort of that, it has been reassuring for me. But, over the last couple of days I had really started to worry and told Jay that I just didn't have a good feeling about what we were going to see at the ultrasound. I have had bad dreams the past two nights about miscarrying, and have just been working myself up into a panic. The woman who did the ultrasound was amazing. She knew we were nervous and didn't waste any time. As soon as she started looking, she immediately said, "There's the heartbeat and it looks good." At that point, I just started crying. She said that she was looking at my record before she came in and just praying that she would have good news for us. The baby is measuring at 7 weeks, 1 day, with a due date of October 2nd. We had her double check for twins because they missed seeing the second one at our early ultrasound when we were pregnant before with twins, but she said she was certain there was only one.

So, at least for today, I'm not a nervous wreck. I know that we have made it past this point before, and things have still not gone well, but a healthy heartbeat is still a huge hurdle for us to get past. I am so grateful and praising God for this miracle of a healthy heart. I know that I should be praising God regardless of the outcome of this pregnancy, and that no matter if He gives or takes away, we should be saying, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." But, for today, I am praising Him for giving.

Go Lakers!

No, I am not referring to the NBA Lakers who I couldn't care less about. Hopefully, you're not some random person reading this blog because it popped up in your search for the Lakers. I am referring to a far more entertaining group of boys (and girls) - this one...

Last week Jake started "Beginning Basketball" through our community recreation program. It is just a half hour of practice on Friday nights, followed by a half hour game, and it is pretty entertaining. As I mentioned with soccer, Jake is not aggressive, nor competitive, but he is certainly fun to watch. And, just like with soccer, he just loves being out there. He loves being on a team. He loves being with other kids. He loves everything about it. Due to his lack of aggressiveness, he doesn't see a lot of ball time, but he shouts, "Pass!" constantly (though nobody ever does), and jumps and dances around and runs his heart out.

And, of course, he has his ever-faithful fan club there to cheer him on (Addi decided to get dressed up for the special occasion of the first game!)...

Just to Put a Smile on Your Face

There is absolutely no good reason why I'm posting this. It won't help to increase anybody's faith or to fill you in on the happenings of the Herron household. But, it makes me smile, so I thought it might make you smile as well.

Nature Class

We just got Jake signed up for a weekly outdoor homeschool class where he will get to learn about nature, animals, building shelters and fires, etc. He would probably choose to be outside every hour of every day if he could, so he's very excited about the class. I'm excited too because I really want him to learn about nature, but I certainly can't teach him. I can't tell one tree from another, one bird from another, one track from another...you get the idea.

We showed up for the first day of class and the first person we saw was this guy...

The hilarious thing about that is that we see him ALL THE TIME walking down our street (barefoot) and into the canyon. Then, we'll see him, hours later, walking back. We always laugh about what in the world he could possibly be doing down there all the time. Well, it turns out that he is one of the assistant instructors for this class...and he knows his stuff! He's also super nice. I had always assumed that he spent all his time down in the canyon smoking something from nature, but it turns out that he really is learning about nature. He could answer anything I asked him. (The other instructor has her doctorate from MIT, so she's pretty smart herself!)

The other funny thing was that Addi loved him. She didn't actually talk to him much, but she wanted to sit by him, walk next to him, and be near him the whole time. She isn't usually like that with people that she doesn't know, so Jay is concerned that this is foreshadowing her teenage years and the sort of boys that she'll be bringing home.

Jake has been to two classes now and is loving it so far. He learned how to create fire from simple things they gathered and rubbed together, has explored the only natural hot springs in Orange County, and has fallen into a creek. Heaven.

I, on the other hand, do not fit in with the group quite so well as he does. I sometimes think of myself as being a little "earthy," what with our increasingly alternative lifestyle, whole foods, and natural medicine instead of conventional medicine. I realized, however, once I was actually with a group of "earthy" moms, that I am not so much. These women had walking, talking toddlers coming up to them nursing on demand, without so much as trying to cover any of it up. I considered taking a picture to post on the blog (I don't think they would have had a problem with it!), but I thought that might not be appropriate. We've got a whole semester of these classes ahead of us though...so stay tuned! :)