Addie's Theology

Oh how I wish I could figure out how to put a cassette recording on this blog! If you know how...please email me how because this blog will not be the same without it!

Addie was home from school on Monday. She normally "plays school" in the sunporch and teaches her "kids" or reads them some books. Today she was teaching them from the Bible and I just had this gut-feeling it was gonna be good! I grabbed my cassette recorder and hid in the living room with it recording.

Addie was sitting in the chair...legs crossed (very ladylike)...teaching from the Bible...in just the sweetest, most loving voice I'd ever heard her use. She was quoting Psalm 100 to "Lizzie" and then I heard her say...

"Lizzie, if you don't believe you will go to Hell and burn forever and never come down. That's what's in the Bible. If you believe, you will be with gold and glass forever...but the glass will probably break."

OH MY! I guess she's got a pretty good grasp of how it works!

My Bible study group is studying Galatians and as we looked at Chapter 3 this week, it focuses on "believing" vs. "works". The key to salvation is "belief and faith in Christ"...NOTHING to do with our works.

Addie got this theology lesson right...(not so sure about the glass breaking part)!

"It Doesn't Take Much!"

Last week, our leaves in the yard had started falling. While the kids were at school, I raked a few big piles of leaves. On the way home from school, Paul asked (as he does each day)..."Mom, what are we doing today?" My normal answer is "Nothing, Paul....just going home, doing homework, playing, eating supper." To which he replies, "Aww! I want to do something fun." On this day I had a different answer...."We are going to jump in leaves." They got excited in the car and had a wonderful time all afternoon...jumping, playing, rake the leaves back up, start all over. It was fun...and reminded me that it doesn't take much to excite them!

Thankful Thursday

Thought I'd share 10 things I'm thankful for today....(not in order!)

1. Early mornings before anyone wakes up
2. Three healthy children
3. Candles burning
4. TIVO
5. My friends and their families
6. Covenant Academy...Paul & Addie's school
7. Peppermint Mocha from the gas station (1/3 the cost of Starbucks!)
8. So many things about Glenn
9. Gobby, GoGoDaddy, & Nana....who make my kids' faces light up
10. Extra cash found in pockets so I can get a Peppermint Mocha from Starbucks

Happy Halloween!

We had a great day! Paul and Addie both had a big day at school celebrating "Reformation Day"...I was in charge of their parties...pizza, ice cream sandwiches, and relay races set up outside for their classes. Emma had "PJ Day" at school and went in her comfortable pajamas and we took cupcakes. Tonight was our Fall Festival at our church...full of tons of fun! It was just a busy day all the way around. As we were leaving the church tonight at 8:30...(after a very full day of entertaining kids, let me remind you)....Paul asks me, "So Mom, what are we doing tomorrow?" I was quite upset leaving the Fall Festival!

I've been thinking about that comment since I got them home and in bed...how often do I do that with God? He gives me so much...is so patient with me...blesses me in ways I don't deserve....AND STILL I KEEP SAYING..."God, what can you do for me now?"

Don't you love how God uses your kids to knock you down a little...teach you something...make you smile...and push you closer to Him??? 8-)

It's fun to see both girls as the rabbit 3 years apart!

2004
2005
2006
2007

Tradition!

As I was making plans to go to the Pumpkin Patch today, I started wondering..."Do I really need to go? Do I need to dress the kids for pictures and head to the Pumpkin Patch just because I've been every other year? So what if I miss a year of pictures in the Pumpkin Patch, right?"

Well, I decided to go. NO! It isn't a "must"....NO! It doesn't matter if I have a picture of them each year in the Pumpkin Patch...but YES! I'm glad I went....glad I went to the trouble because now I have my pictures and I had such a good time tonight going back and looking over the past 4 years of our Pumpkin Patch pictures. I smiled and laughed at how they've grown and changed. It was worth it....there are some traditions I want to continue.

"If Nemo gets wet....He cries and dies!"

Well, we are on the downhill slide to our last venture EVER in potty training! It's never been too big of a deal in our house but it's nice to see it all coming to a close. Emma is very excited about all of her "new" Nemo panties (actually they were all Addie's old panties...is that gross?) Every time we put on a pair we say...."If Nemo gets wet...he cries and dies!" No one wants to kill Nemo, right??? 8-)

Got to Love Phonics!!

I was cleaning up the living room today after church and came across a piece of paper on the coffee table. I knew it was Paul's writing so I asked him about it. They were supposed to recite the first 5 books of the Bible in Sunday School this morning and so yesterday he had written them out to practice learning them. It was great to see phonics in action!!!

Friends for a Lifetime!

Do you have any friends that you once lived close to....you now live far away...but when you are back together it is like not a minute has passed? It is great to have close friends like that! We have college friends, Jim & Michelle Murphy, who were our great friends in college and in the 4 years after college while we lived in Lexington. We all moved away at the same time and have been apart now for 6 years. We see each other maybe once a year...when we do it is like we haven't been apart at all! They came through Macon this weekend traveling from Florida back to Kentucky. We had a blast! They have 3 kids and our 6 kids hit it off each time they are together....it is definitely a friendship God has blessed us with! We love our pictures of our whole crew each time we're together.

This was our picture last summer at their house in Kentucky.

It's Hard to Believe!

It's hard to believe that Paul is 7 years old...wow! Our little boy is growing up. He had his birthday on Tuesday out at the pond with 16 of his classmates and friends. It was a wild time...especially considering that GoGoDaddy was in charge of many of the activities! We did some fun things....

1. There was a hayride that GoGoDaddy rigged up. We had a blast on it especially when it turned into a "thrill ride" going speeds that a hayride is not designed to go!

2. We had a pecan throwing contest in the pond. Paul & GoGoDaddy had collected green pecans and let all the kids throw at a target in the pond.

3. GoGoDaddy had a race with all the kids in the pasture!

4. We had organized games like Sag Nads, Bocci Ball, and Football that Gobby made a great effort to keep the kids involved in!

5. We grilled hot dogs, ate cake & ice cream, opened presents and tore up a pinata!

6. GoGoDaddy took groups of kids in the pick-up truck around the pond and let each kid drive his truck....we took their head shot and are going to make official drivers license's for each kid to have for passing the "GoGoDaddy's Pick-up Truck Driving Test"....which is VERY LOOSE....GoGoDaddy has VERY FEW RULES....IF ANY!

7. Paul's gift to the boys for coming to the party for a jar for each kid with a tadpole in it that he and GoGoDaddy had caught for each boy to take home.

It was an awesome time! Paul had a blast and at the end of the evening said, "That felt like the party only lasted 1 minute!" The adults at the party disagreed wholeheartedly....it felt like a month! Tons of fun...couldn't have done it without Gobby & GoGoDaddy. THANKS!

Krazy Kelley Kid!

I'm going to start a new category in my blog..."Krazy Kelley Kid". I will post crazy things my kids do periodically...it happens often but I won't post every crazy thing...PROMISE!!

This first post in the "Krazy Kelley Kid" category comes from Emma.

We have been baffled by the way she sleeps many nights....not so much WHY (we really don't care about that) but instead HOW (this part we would like your input). We will go in to get her in the mornings and she will just be a lump under her fitted sheet....yes, I said UNDER. Somehow, she pulls the sheet away from the mattress and then gets her "not-so-thin" self between the sheet and the slats of the bed...then lets the sheet snap back around her and she falls asleep! It's definitely a crazy thing...one we can't figure out how she actually does it. We have pictures of the finished position but haven't caught her in the act....YET!

Pick a Reason!
After lunch on Friday, Addie went to the cabinet and got some pudding after I told her she couldn't have any. I'm sure what followed was the "correct discipline approach that James Dobson would approve"! 8-)

Afterwards, we were talking about her disobeying and I asked her why she had disobeyed....through her tears she said, "I haven't picked out a reason yet". That was a good one! She is still back on her bed picking a reason...I'll let you know when she picks one!

Our Little Gymnast!

Emma is enjoying a tumbling class on Thursday mornings. As the 3rd child, she is usually being hauled around for Paul and Addie's activities. She is finally enjoying one of her own! I'm not sure that she has a future in gymnastics...sometimes her form isn't very good...but she's only 2 so there's still time to develop, right?? The best part is that she laughs, smiles, and has a great time....and she's VERY proud of herself!

Super Saturday!

Today was one of those rare days in the life of the Kelley Klan....we had a Saturday in which NOTHING was planned! We decided to take advantage of the day....we slept in (7:20!), ate a big breakfast, packed a picnic lunch, and headed to our pond in Marshallville. We took Rupp with us so he could enjoy the open fields and the cool water. We had a "relaxing" ride down to Marshallville....the kids never stopped talking and the dog never stopped barking. Around Byron, Glenn & I looked at each other with that "Are we sure this was a good idea?" look. It proved to be a wonderful day! We went on adventures around the pond, went fishing, played in the sandy bank, took tons of pictures, ate our picnic lunch, and had several moments we won't forget for a while.

One of those moments was with a butterfly...the most gorgeous large butterfly keep staying close to Addie, Emma, and their shoes which were laying in the sand. The butterfly kept landing on their shoes and Addie wanted to get close. The butterfly just sat there as Addie and I crept closer and closer...I was snapping pictures, of course! Addie finally got right up to the butterfly and held her little finger down close. The butterfly flew right to her and you should have seen Addie's face! She was holding a butterfly and she couldn't believe it! She stayed really still and kept saying over and over..."I wish I could stay this way forever!" It made me think of those rare times when we are still and quiet before God....isn't it a feeling that we wish could stay forever??

Another moment...a not-so-warm-and-fuzzy moment...came on our adventure up these dirt cliffs. Paul discovered a cactus! He said, "This can't be a cactus...they only live in the desert!" After we convinced him that it really was a cactus and that they really could live here, he was determined to take it back to show GoGoDaddy (that's my dad). I leaned over and didn't see any prickly things so I helped him break it off from the ground. It looked really smooth, nothing to fear because there was nothing to stick us! Well, that wasn't entirely true....there were these little bumps that appeared harmless...they were actually filled with "little prickly hairs". Those prickly hairs have been stuck on me all day. Even tonight after a shower I have felt them on my arms and can't get away from them! That got me thinking....that's how sin looks in my life. It looks ok....I go in to take ahold of it...then I realize it wasn't such a good idea...then it just lasts and lasts and lasts! It made me want to begin each day asking God to help me stay away from any "cactus" areas...pride, self-sufficiency, impatience, or out-of-line priorities. Got any cactus areas??