Three-Year-Old Theology

Brandon and two other colleagues started a transportation company last summer. Things have been going well for them, continually growing their business. However, as with any company, there are always a few hiccups. Yesterday, Brandon had a half day off from his normal day job and spent the afternoon at the transportation company. He called me in the afternoon to let me know that 10 of their RVs had been broken into during the night. 8 TVs stolen, 2 broken, and some other miscellaneous damage.

Fast forward a few hours to last night. I had put Brynlee to bed, and as was custom, asked her what she wanted to pray for. Her favorite answer lately has been "I don't know." So, I suggested we pray for her daddy's work. I explained that some mean people had come and taken TVs that didn't belong to them and that the police were hoping they could find them. This story and explanation seemed sufficient enough for Bryn. But, as soon as we finished praying, Brynlee said to me "Tomorrow, Daddy go to work and he fight those mean guys." Oh my. How did she ever come to that conclusion from the story I told her?! I explained that we forgive the mean guys because Jesus forgives us and we just have to pray that they will feel bad and do the right thing in returning the TVs. Again, this seemed to satisfy Brynlee. We continue to talk about Jesus' love being like Mommy and Daddy's love. Jesus loves everybody, but still is unhappy when we do something wrong and disobedient. We love her, but are still upset when she does something wrong. To this she responded, "Yes, we go cut those mean guys with a knife!"

She was still at it again this morning, insisting that Daddy had gone to work to fight the mean guys. We never even use the word "fight" in our house, so I'm assuming this was picked up from somewhere else. But apparently, we've got some work to do in the way of teaching grace, forgiveness, and resistance to fight :)

Happy 3rd birthday, Brynlee!

Today, our sassy, spunky, crazy Brynlee turned 3 years old! We have had warmer-than-average temperatures lately and today was no exception. Quite a change from the blizzard that was occurring when we first laid eyes on our teeny 5 pound 14 ounce baby girl three years ago. What a joy it has been to parent this lively girl for the last three years. We have learned so much about ourselves and life in general through this parenting journey. We can't wait to see what the next year holds for our big girl!

Here are some of the highlights of Brynlee's life as a 2-year-old:

• This year you became a big sister. It was a struggle in the beginning as you learned to share your mommy with Brayla, but you have turned in to a GREAT big sister for her. You sing to her if she's crying, you get her toys so she can play, and you love sitting in her crib and reading with her.
• You have changed from a semi-petite 2-year-old into an above average height 3-year-old. I think you've grown about 7-8 inches this year alone. You are wearing 4T and even XS 4-5 clothes! Your feet have continued to be huge (like your daddy's) with you wearing a size 10 already.
• Your favorite things to play this past year have been baby dolls, kitchen, dress up, and tea party. One of my favorite memories is you taking your "mothering" of your baby doll to the extreme by consistently breastfeeding her and using my breast pump :)
• You have really taken to watching movies recently. I'm pretty sure you can recite all the words to Toy Story and Beauty and the Beast.
• Your favorite cartoons to watch are Max and Ruby, Dora, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

We had Brynlee's party yesterday with our family. Of course it was a princess theme and she loved everything about it. Here are some pictures from her special day!

You would never know we just had Christmas with all those presents!

First present of the night...a princess cup!

Little sister wanted to help unwrap too

This princess alarm clock has been played with over and over and over again already!

Feeding her new baby (baby #837 in our house)

A rare shy moment when everybody was singing to her

Mamaw got to help sing too...even in Illinois!

Attempt #1

Finger in the cake deterred her the first time...try #2

What a great day for our little princess. God has richly blessed us with Brynlee and we are thankful for the life that we get to enjoy because of her!

Winter Wonderland

Last week, we got our first dose of Midwestern winter. In a matter of 24 hours, we got about 4.5 inches of snow. While Brynlee's parents are not huge fans of the white stuff, Brynlee was thrilled to wake up from her nap and see it flying. I will admit that Christmas and winter in general are much more enjoyable when being able to witness a child's perspective. The day after our snow fell, I picked Bryn up from the sitter's and she was insistent that she wanted to build a snowman. How she knew that with the snow we had we could build a snowman, I have no idea. I was able to postpone her snowman wishes for a while, but once Brandon got home,

there was no stopping her. The girl had waited months and months for snow and she was ready to play! The snow ended up being too hard to really do anything with by the time Brynlee

was able to get outside, but she had the time of her life anyways (and looked pretty cute while enjoying it!)

Cracks me up that she felt the need for sunglasses while playing in snow. At 6pm.

While the snow has since melted, I'm actually looking forward to getting out myself with Brynlee for some winter fun once Mother Nature decides to "bless" us again :)