Friday, November 28, 2008

Happy Thankgiving Maddox

My Sweet Maddox,




It is now the day after Thanksgiving and I just want you to know how thankful we are for you, our sweet little boy. I am so thankful for your smile when I walk in your room in the mornings to get you out of your crib, I could not ask for a better way to start the day. I love how you stare at your daddy while he gets ready in the morning, adoring him and trying to figure out how to be just like him (he is an amazing man to imitate). I love when you crawl to my legs, pull to standing, and stare up at me with the sweetest smile! I am thankful for your laugh and your "spirited" personality. I love how excited you get when you realize you are standing on your own, and I love how you just aren't ready to let go yet. Words cannot fully descibe how much you mean to me and all the things we love about you; I have tried to soak up as much as possible this thanksgiving because I want to remember my first Thanksgiving with you! Your daddy and I love you very much and our lives are blessed more than we could have ever imagined because of you!



Happy First Thanksgiving my Sweet Baby Maddox!!



Maddox standing all by himself


Maddox and Daddy playing and patiently waiting on thanksgiving dinner

Papa and Maddox getting into trouble


Uncle J reading to Maddox


PopPop and Maddox lauging








Monday, November 17, 2008

These Boots Were Made For Walkin'

We had a wonderful weekend with Grandmom and Grandpa Voda!! They came in town on Friday and sadly returned back to Oklahoma today.....we miss you guys already!!! Maddox sure had a great time playing and almost walked by himself while they were here..(I don't give it much longer until I have a wobbly toddler walking behind me)


I know I say this often, but I feel like Maddox is changing rapidly and discovers something new everyday! He is growing up so fast and I am about to have a toddler in this house rather than an infant. My sweet child is on my heels everyday...I mean that literally...he follows me all around the house...helps me load the dishwasher, pulls up on the couch to get closer to me, follows me to the front door, and hits the ground "crawling" when he hears the bath water turn on (oh sweet Maddox, he loves those baths). It is so funny to watch him cling to me and long to be where I am (I long to have that same desire for Christ, to follow Him wherever He goes, to not care where He is headed as long as He is there, I will follow, and to be so thirsty for His water, that I hit the ground running every morning to just be that much closer to Him)


Thank you Grandmom and Grandpa Voda for visiting us, loving on Maddox and simply blessing us by being here. We enjoyed the time together and eagerly anticipate getting together again!!!






Maddox and Grandmom listening to Brad play the guitar (Maddox sat still like this for about 10 minutes just listening!)

"These Boots Were Made For Walkin'"....Maddox playing in Grandpa Voda's boots








Maddox "helping" us load the dishwasher!!!


Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Monday, November 10, 2008

Not Me Monday




I have been blog stalking a precious woman who has amazing faith, 4 precious little ones, and an amazing story of God's healing and HIS faithfulness to those who vigorously seek HIM...you should definitely check out her blog and read her amazing story......she started a group blogger "therapy" which allows us to be perfectly honest about the things we did NOT do this week.....this is my first attempt at NOT me Monday, so please bare with me....



This week I most definitely did NOT secretly love that we had no trick or treaters for Halloween which did NOT leave me with a ton of my favorite candy to enjoy, which I am most definitely NOT eating as I type this post!



I did NOT argue with my husband that it was much to warm to need the heater on one evening only to go check on my precious sleeping little boy and find his tiny little hands frozen and immediately turn the heater on....oh no, I would NEVER freeze my poor infant child because I have a strange desire to sleep with it freakishly cold.


I did NOT scream like a 12 year old girl while watching the Texas Tech Red Raiders play amazingly well and beat OSU keeping us as the number 2 team in the nation. No, not me, I would never get so excited over a football game!


I did NOT get a little sad when watching my 10 month old son eat crackers like a big boy, and wonder where the time has gone with my tiny little baby as I hold my 25 pound giant in my arms!


I did NOT get teary eyed when watching Maddox stand independently with his huge brown eyes look up at me with excitement and a little terror as he realized he was standing alone. I did NOT want to encourage him to crawl as I attempt to enjoy the infant stage just a little while longer. Surely I will NOT have a toddler running through the house so soon!!



Well, there you have it, my first NOT Me Monday post....what did YOU NOT do this week???



Are you ready for a couple of pictures???












Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Definitely NOT a Wordless Wednesday

What I’m wondering now is where do we go from here? While the electoral vote and popular vote strongly favored Obama, our country is still largely divided. This was a hard-fought, personal and passionate race. There are wounds on both sides. Can Obama and the Democratic congress heal those wounds? Can we help? Yes and yes.Obama ran as a unifier. He condemned our party divisions and championed cooperation across party lines. Many of the Democrats who won seats in the Senate ran with similar platforms. If Obama and the Congress majority maintain that position and “reach across the aisle” in the years to come, that will certainly go a long way in healing our wounds and unifying our country. Karl Rove has already expressed his own wish that the Republicans would do the same, "I hope we will support [Obama] when we agree with him, persuade him when we think his mind is open, and oppose him when we think he is wrong."

Whether unity happens in Washington or not, the question still returns to us: what can we do to help? As Francis Schaeffer so famously put it, “How shall we then live?” Now that the election is over and Obama and the Democrats have so clearly won, how shall we then live? I believe that we, the young Christian voters, can uniquely answer this question. I believe, in fact, that this is the very question we are so primed to answer. Because this election and its profound life issues has galvanized us to true action. Yes, we voted. But it’s more than that. Through this election, we’ve become aware of the major social issues of our day. And now we want to do something about them. We recognize an election will not change everything. We do not rest our hopes for change on a political party or candidate. We vote, we hope, but we don’t stop there. Tomorrow and the next day and the next and in January when Obama takes office, we get up and we continue our sojourn to follow Jesus. We live our votes for life, for justice, for peace, for equality.

We comfort our friend who tells us she’s considering abortion. Then we gently tell her why we believe life in the womb is precious. We help her find alternative options … and we stick by her side all through the pregnancy and birth and after. She is not a statistic or a faceless evil to us. We love beyond racial, gender and sexual lines. We reject stereotypes. We embrace individuals. We work for reconciliation. We do not talk about “that side of town,” we live there and work there and mentor there. We are a part of educational reform, and ESL, and rehabilitation. We recycle. We reduce our imprint. We consciously make our purchases, recognizing the global implications. We strive to “live simply that others may simply live” (Ghandi). We personally pray for our soldiers in Iraq, for the citizens of Iraq, for our leaders who are making tough decisions that affect millions of lives. We really do pray, and we believe our prayers matter. We continue to work hard in the jobs God has given us, saving our money and stewarding our resources. We tithe. We donate. We volunteer. We continually challenge each other to deepen our understanding of whole life ethics and Jesus’ call to follow Him. I believe this is who we are. I believe this is who you are. I believe we can be the change we’ve voted for—no matter who we voted for.

While I was pacing the floors, anxious and nervous about the results of the election, my sweet son again reminded to have faith and rest easy in the arms of our Lord!


Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Waiting


The Madd-Man and I voted today!!!
DID YOU????? I took Maddox with me today to go vote! I realize he is not old enough to have any idea what is going on, but I had a strong conviction to take him with me and start him out early knowing that voting is a huge responsibility that we do not take lightly. I also wanted to back up what we "say" with an action and give him the opportunity to see me vote! So now we just wait on the outcome. I am so blessed to have a young infant around because it is a constant reminder to have "the faith of a child" He has no idea the stresses that are out there in the world, he simply knows that we will take care of him. I am constantly reminded that God already knows the answers we just have to trust Him and do our best to be faithful followers of His will!!!
I also voted for Eli again today....DID YOU??? (see previous post if you are confused)

Monday, November 3, 2008

Please Vote for Eli

So as you all know tomorrow is the big VOTING day!!! In the spirit of voting, I am asking you guys to help out a friend of mine, Amanda, and vote for her son in the Most Kissable Baby contest. Little Eli Martin has made it into the top 5 of this contest and it would be awesome if they could win!!! Go here and vote for Eli Martin!!!
Thanks for your help here, I am sure Amanda will be very grateful!!!
Have a wonderful Monday!!! And in the spirit of Tech doing such a great job this weekend, I will post a picture of OUR cute, kissable baby sporting his tech gear several months ago!!!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Fall Fun

One of my favorite parts about this year with a newborn baby is all the "first" we get to experience...especially first holidays. This of course was Maddox's first halloween and although I am not a huge fan of this particular "holiday" I loved getting him dressed up in his precious costume that Grandmom Voda made for him and realizing that one day he will love being able to pretend for one whole day the he can be anyone he wants to be...a superhero, a football player, an animal...who knows what he will choose to pretend to be someday, but I certainly hope Brad and I can encourage that sacred art of pretend and imagination that we tend to loose as we grow up.









Speaking of superheros....did any of you watch the Texas Tech game....I read a sign that said "Superman dressed up like Crabtree for Halloween this year" hahhaha...I thought that was great, and what a great job our Red Raiders did on Saturday evening!!! Thank you Dad and Kelly for watching Maddox for us so we could go watch nervously as our team pulled off an amazing victory over the #1 team!! GO TECH!!!






What a glorious day it has been today! Church was amazing this morning, and again it was fabulous having the Voda family of 3 together ALL day!! We had a picnic out side and enjoyed the beautiful November day. Brad took some great pictures outside of Maddox that I think I'll share with you guys!! Hope you all have a great week!