Whine your blessings

Yes you read that right! You see as of late some of the statuses I have seen on Facebook have irritated me to no end. Here are just a few:

"I hate having a job!"
(REALLY? I know a lot of people that would love to have it if you want to quit!)

"Got a new car, hate that it's a 2010 and not a 2011!"
(Seriously?! Our van is a 1994, 270K miles, has two broken door handles, no heat or A/C...wanna trade? Don't get me wrong here I am VERY VERY THANKFUL for the vehicles we have! Go here to read about how I feel about my cars.)

There are a few others that people have posted that I won't post here because I know that they read this blog and to be honest I do not want to hurt their feelings but they really need to get a serious reality check. I believe it's all about perspective and if I sat down and wrote out everything I wish were different I would be whining instead of being thankful for what God has done.

There's a little song we use to sing in Sunday School called "Count Your Blessings" and the chorus goes like this:

"Count your blessings name them one by one, count your blessings see what God has done, Count your blessings name them one by one, Count your many blessing see what God has done."

I have days that I do whine about what I don't have but want but those days are far and inbetween. Our family is very blessed. In fact despite what I thought our Christmas celebration was going to be like turned out to be the best Christmas we have had in a variety of ways. I plan to share pictures and other things about the events of this past week in the next few days. But today I just couldn't take one more person whining about something that they are blessed with! I was sharing some of the statuses I have seen lately that have been irritating me to no end to Sean and he came up with this little parody. It is quiet funny. Enjoy!

WHINE ABOUT YOUR BLESSINGS by Sean Kelly

(sung to the hymn, “Count Your Blessings”)

When upon life’s pillows you are self-absorbed

You got a new Chevy but you want a Ford

Whine about your blessings, spew them one by one

And it will surprise you how ungrateful you’ve become

Chorus:

Whine about your blessings, whine them one by one

Whine about your blessings till the day is done

Whine your blessings… whine them one by one…

Whine about your blessings till the day is done!

Are you ever burdened with blessings untold?

Mounds and mounds of silver when you cry for gold?

Count your every instance when you get short-changed

And don’t be surprised when you turn out deranged.

Chorus

So amid the blessings whether great or small

Do not be content for God should give you more!

Whine about your blessings, others nerves you’ll grate

Wallowing in self-pity till it’s way too late!

Great night!

So last night was our church's Christmas candle light service and children's program. It was FANTASTIC! Great message, fantastic worship, kids did wonderful. Jaron had his first speaking part and did excellent. So proud of them. Even Kristofer did great...a wise man on crutches. Oh yea, you see over the weekend Kristofer took a tumble down the stairs and bruised his ribs. Then on Sunday afternoon he tripped and bruised his heel bone and Achilles tendon with a slight sprain. He was on crutches for a few days. Did fantastic on them and used them last night. Today he has not been using them and seems to be doing a lot better.
So last night Jaron was one of the narrators, Sara was an angel, Eli a shepherd and Kris a wise man. They all did fantastic. So proud of them!
Today was cookie day. I guess I could make this a seperate post but I have decided not to. You see I woke up once again sick. I just got over and finished antibiotics for strep and double ear infections. I was just starting to feel better and today I get slammed. Actually it started last night with my sinuses burning but I am sure you don't want to know the details. Seriously though I woke up feeling like a mack truck hit me. :-( I do not like being sick! Specially when we have special visitors coming to visit for Christmas.
Anyway on to the cookies. You see the cookie below well that is suppose to be a gingerbread man for santa. Note to self next time take the time to make sugar cookie dough instead of purchasing the pre=made dough at the store! Our sugar cookie cut outs well had issues and because one giant sheet. Kids just laughed but I know Kris was very disappointed in the gingerbread man.

Our sugar cookie cut outs...SO SAD! But they did still taste good!

Then I got creative with the sugar dough and added snickers bites and crushed candy canes. Don't they look yummy! They are!

To finish off the batches we made chocolate chip cookies. All in anticipation of our special guests!
Of whom we have not spent Christmas with in 5 years. My parents are coming, my parents are coming! YAY!!! I can't tell you how excited I am about this. My brother Chris and his wife Leah and their two kids and my other niece Anna whospent the summer with us is also coming our way. SO excited to see them!!! They should be here sometimes tomorrow night and will stay for a week. YAY!!!

Introducing RG

Kristofer has been working on RG all week. He started by finding some bottle caps,
light bulb and the jar. Then he set out to go to work creating his newest robot.

Through out the week he has added and changed different parts. This morning as soon
as he got up and dressed for school he was back to working on RG. You can see the
changes he has done....oh wait "up grades" as he calls them.

The air freshener container is the robot's (RG's) gun.

When he returned from school he was ready for more "up grades." This time he added an air tank (pill bottle) to the back. The finished RG at least for now is below.
I am always amazed at what he creates. When asked what he wants for Christmas this year all he says is a robot creation box. In layman's terms...a box filled with craft stuff, a glue gun, glue sticks, googley eyes, pipe cleaners, other odd shaped items ect... This is one amazing kid we have been blessed with.

Kris' Aircraft

Well he's at it again :) He really does amaze me with his creations. Now he is starting to show Eli how to do it. He has a hard time letting Eli do it alone or create what he wants. Kris' creative mind is always working. This was another creation he made yesterday.

Mommy Daughter Day

Sara has been asking all week for a day that we do girlie things. Just her and I. So today we made home made pumpkin facials which was very simple to do. Sara's comment was, "Mommy I smell like pumpkin pie." Which I had to agree with her on. We also painted our nails with a clear coat to make them shiny. She enjoys these fun things that we can do with each other at home. I do love a professional facials of which my favorite place is at Just Skin in Venice, Florida but this special time with my beautiful little girl means the world to me.

Creations by Kristofer

As you know from previous posts our Kristofer is on the autism spectrum. He is very high functioning and because of God's hand on him and therapy he is doing fantastic. Well one of his favorite things to do is build. We had an IEP meeting this week and I learned that he has been building at school and his special ed teacher of whom I love, has been giving him extra time to unwind with her by building something before heading back to his normal classroom. Of which I am very pleased with! It helps him prepare mentally to contend with the large group setting.
He is my recycling king. Today on Thanksgiving he was constantly asking me when we would have our Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Dinner which equals popcorn, pretzel sticks, jelly beans and toast...minus the toast. I explained to him that we would be having dinner with the Shorts and that seemed to make him happy.
I went looking for him and found him building ... no surprise there :) What did surprise me is that he had found the hot glue gun and was using it...correctly!His newest creation is below. He calls it his stick man robot and hover craft. I think he did an excellent job creating it. To us it may be junk but when he sees odd shapes and items he sees a masterpiece.

Isn't that the same thing God does with us! He picks us up and out of the trash...often times we are throw aways by society's standards or ours, washes us off and there begins the start of a new creation of which He is faithful to complete. Today I am thankful for Kristofer and his building/creating abilities. Love that boy!

40 Things

Happy Thanksgiving! For 40 years I have celebrated Thanksgiving. Some years I do not even remember, for I was too young. Many years I was barely thankful for what I had but today I am very thankful for even the smallest things. So I am about to attempt to write out 40 things, one for each year I have been alive of things I am thankful for.

I am thankful for…

1. My ever faithful Lord and Savior

2. Jesus’ love and forgiveness despite my failings.

3. My husband, I love you Sean!

4. Strongheart Jaron

5. Kristofer the conqueror

6. Tenderhearted Eli

7. Princess Sara

8. My Angel Seanpatrick…you may be in heaven but I am forever thankful that I had 9 months to get to know you and can’t wait to see you in heaven!

9. My parents..Mom & Dad…A constant reminder of what love can do and how you can overcome the many things that life throws at you.

10. My 3 brothers and my sister…memories of my childhood : )

11. Best friends – In no certain order… Angie, Michele, Deanna, Leah, Marty, Jessica

12. New friends

13. A warm place to call home.

14. LIVING IN KY – We love it here!

15. My dogs – Bently and Oddie…what a pair you are!

16. Two cars that are paid for!

17. New Haircuts!

18. Warm winter coats

19. Crock shoes

20. Diet soda

21. veggies and dip

22. Turtle cookies…as Kristofer says, “Sweet glory” they are good!

23. MY DISHWASHER : )

24. Modern technology

25. Seasons of Rest

26. Dolls…I love dolls.

27. Klove radio

28. Facebook – connecting with old and new friends

29. Board games-Scrabble

30. My wonderful neighbors.

31. Video games

32. Playing Uno and Pacman with Sara

33. My granmother’s ivy that is growing strong and I have had for 9 years.

34. My ceramic Christmas tree that was my great grandmother’s.

35. Living less than 3 minutes from the stores I shop at.

36. Redbox…yes I love cheap rentals.

37. Pumpkin Spice Coffee and creamer

38. The ability to walk without crutches or a cane.

39. Pain medicine

40. Ability to worship in a free country without fear of being attacked or thrown into jail.

WOW I did it! I knew I could but with all the storms we are facing and going through I wasn’t sure I would come up with that many things. Oh I have so much more I am thankful for mainly all that God has and is continuing to do in my life and in my family.

Happy Thanksgiving my friends!

Happy Birthday Seanpatrick

We Place You in His Hands

Tiny life so fragile, sent to earth from heaven's gate

Blessed our lives for just a little while,

a testimony of His grace

No harsh words were ever spoken, to dim your precious brow

We know you're in the safest place, in the arms of Jesus now

We give you back to God, we place you in His hands

We place you in the hands of the Father above

Knowing He will keep you safe within His love

We place you in the hands that calms the raging waves

Knowing that He is still able to save

We give you back to God, we place you in His hands.


Today is our son SeanPatrick's 13th birthday. Will I ever stop counting the years that he was taken from us? I don't know. I wish I could say yes but the truth is, I probably will always count the years. I know one day I will hold him in my arms when I get to heaven. Every year I post something about his special day. This year I am just posting the song that our dear friends Gary & Rhonda Gray and Christy Cain wrote and recorded for us to play at the funeral. If you would like to read more of what took place and why we do not have him you can go here to read about it.

Saturday Morning Breakfast

I love Saturday mornings. They usually mean I get to sleep in, usually only another 3o minutes because my kids don't know the meaning of sleep in on a weekend day. In when we lived in Illinois we made it a point to always have a family breakfast loaded with pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast (sometimes), grits, coffee and sometimes OJ. YUMMO!! Since living here in Kentucky that ritual has sorta go to the way side. Mainly because Sean's work schedule changes and he now works on Friday nights and comes home exhausted on Sat. mornings. :( We are hoping that changes soon. He has applied for a position with the school district as a Alternative Education Assistant teacher. It would be full time, during the day and we are praying it will be more pay. The hours alone are better and we are really praying he gets it. He likes his job he has but hates the hours but thankful for the job!
Anyway today I decided instead of trying to sleep in when the kids were being rambunctious I would get up and get breakfast going and surprise Sean when he came in. He was happy :) The kids were excited! Kris woke up and was like "Is that bacon I smell!" then came in and said, "You are the best Mommy in the world!" All because I made bacon lol!
I enjoy mornings like this with my kids. I know soon things will change and they will be staying at friend's homes and getting up to go to work or leaving for college...ok getting ahead of myself, I mean geez Jaron is only in 5th grade...by time does seem to fly by!
OH yea before I forget! We are so PROUD of Jaron! He made the academic team at school. He was pretty excited himself. He is a smart kid and I think this is really going to boost his confidence. So proud of him! WAY TO GO JARON!!!

November is Dedicated to Being Thankful.

November…where has this year truly gone? I feel like every year passes by so quickly anymore. Maybe it’s because I am getting older but honestly I think it has more to do with I am so busy being Mom that I blink and the year disappears. So in three weeks from tomorrow we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. Honestly Thanksgiving should not be set to just one day but be a life style. The last couple of days I have been thinking about what I am thankful for and how I want to go about sharing it. I thought about doing 30 days of Thanksgiving and then I thought no I will just do Thankful Thursdays. But that just didn’t appeal to me as well. I even considered making a list of things I am thankful for. Which is something we need to do, the Bible tells us to “count your blessings name them one by one.” But that isn’t really what I want to do either. Oh I probably will make out a list this month and share it. Actually I plan to do that anyway but I wanted to take some time to really share what I am thankful for and why.

So today on my way to take the kids to school (which was much better day than Monday) I was thinking about what I am thankful for and it was instantly…I am thankful for our van! Actually I am thankful for the provision of our vehicles! You see Sean and I have been married almost 14 yrs which surely doesn’t feel as long as it sounds. In the time we have been married we have been blessed with 4 ½ vehicles. I mean given, tax free, payment free, gifts from God. Sure they were all used but every time one has died God has supplied another one. I say 4 ½ because with our van we were blessed with ½ of what it cost. We are very blessed right now that we do not have any car payments!! When we found out our then large car (Lincoln Town Car) was turning into a compact car because our family was not only increasing but increasing with twins, both Sean and I said ok God you are blessing us with twins, our children are doubling (from 2 to 4 children) we said, Lord you have to provide. We were blessed when we found our minivan that sits 7 and then were blessed with half of the money. I will not post all those who have blessed us because although we are VERY, VERY, VERY GRATEFUL for their obedience to God and for blessing us, we believe they were an agent of the Lord and I am sure they would not want to be named or “glorified” for blessing us.

Relatively each vehicle has been in good to excellent condition. Some have need a bit of work but most have been tag and drive. When I sit down and think of all the ways God has come through it encourages me to know that if He did it before He can and will do it again. He always supplies what we need when we need it. Sometimes it has gotten pretty dark and the storms seem to rage with hurricane force winds but all He has to do is say, “Peace be still,” and the storm ceases to exist. Right now a storm is brewing and it is starting to get dark here (and I am NOT talking about a natural storm) I mean we need Him to speak, “Peace be still,” and come to the rescue. I am not asking Him to wipe away our debt or bills, I am asking Him to give us the means (whether better paying jobs (a job for me) or a large financial gift) so that we can tend to what needs to be tended to.

So today I chose to be thankful for the blessings of our payment free, older, in need of some repairs, vehicles! As long as they run, are safe and get our family to where we need to go I will forever be thankful for these blessings!

How Not to Start the Day

Today was a day of odd things happening. It is never a dull moment in the Diaperhead house I can tell you that! This is how my day started...

5:18 AM Oddie (our puppy) woke me from a great dream (I was dreaming we owned a big old farm house, Sean was pastoring a church again and I was helping him).

5:25 AM Pull Oddie up on the bed and he ended up sitting on my head and licking my face. :) I love puppy kiss just not that early. Oddie snuggles under the covers and I fall back to sleep.

6:30 Alarm goes off...late. It's ok, really, I don't need a full hour to get all 4 kids up, dress, fed and ready for school.

6:45 Laundry Monster strikes again! SERIOUSLY! Who is eating all the socks and Jaron's jeans??? Searched through Jaron's room and the laundry room for 15 minutes searching for his jeans and socks for the kids.

7:00 Return from the basement adventure - I really hate the laundry monster! While searching the dogs found Kris's pet frog (dead) and brought it upstairs. :( Which has Kris whimpering in the corner of the couch. When asked what was wrong (I was unaware) BIG crocodile tears start streaming down his cheeks. I spend 10 mins trying to calm him all the while trying to get the other 4 diaperheads socked, shoed and out the door with their daddy of whom disappeared during all this saddness about the pet frog.

7:15 Kids are FINALLY in the van and headed to school with their dad. (Shew! Thank God they do not ride the school bus...it comes at 6:30 and it would most definitely mean I would be getting them up at 5 AM UHM NO WAY! )

7:15 I begin to make smoothies for Sean and I. Not two seconds later and the blender explodes (not sure what happened ~ seriously!) my response at this point was "REALLY?" I now have berry smoothie covering me, the walls, cabinets, floor (dogs enjoyed) and counter top...not to mention the mess all over the blender!

After cleaning up that wonderful mess, I start cleaning the livingroom and slam my big toe against the exercise bike...OUCH! THANK GOD I have no feeling in my feet (it's actually sad - I have neuropathy in both feet and lower legs) but on days like to day I am thankful for now feeling. 2 hours later I look at my big toe and I now have a huge dime size blood blister on the tip...OUCH! Still can't feel it (thankfully) but now I have to poke it and drain it and pray it doesn't get infected. And yes it has to be drained...it's too large to just let it be.

So where is that restart button anyway??? BTW if you want to see where I found this wonderful picture of the laundry monster go here. I do have to say now that I look back over the adventures of the morning I can laugh! Like I have said...there is NEVER a dull moment in the Diaperhead House!

My Baby Girl

Today I want to share a little bit about my favorite little girl! That little girls is my precious, loving, compassionate, animal loving, sweet, strong willed, Princess Sara. I have ALWAYS wanted my very own little girl. From the time I was small enough to play with dolls I always wanted a baby girl. That's probably why when my little sister was born that I claimed her as MINE and refused to let other people hold her. From the time my sister was just a few weeks old I was bound and determined to have her in my bedroom with me! You see there are nine years between us. By the time she was a teen I was leaving for college in KY. I hate that I missed those 5 years with her. She was my maid of honor in my wedding and it was never because she is my sister, it's because I truly wanted her in my wedding :) and I had the honor of being in her wedding. I love her to death! I am thankful that she was there encouraging me to push when Jaron and Kristofer was born. She watched as they were born :) A very special time for us as sisters, a time I cherish very much. But this post is not about her it's about Sara.
Sara is very special to me. You see after we had Kristofer (our third son ~ remember I have one in heaven who would have been 13 on the 22nd of Nov this year) we weren't sure we were going to have anymore. But one night at the alter as I was praying I felt the Lord tell me I would have a daughter and I would name her Sara. When I shared it with Sean all he could say was, "Well I guess that answers our question on more kids." He was smiling! It was a few months later that we found out I was pregnant and a few months later that we found out that she wasn't coming alone :) She had a brother in there with her.
From the time we found out we were having twins and till now, Sara has been a very strong independent dominant child. I said earlier in my description that she is a strong willed child and most people associate those words with behavioral problem child. But this is FARTHEST from the truth when talking about my Sara.
Here is a definition and some other words to describe strong willed.

strong-willed - having a determined will; to be resolute, firm, single-minded, purposeful, fixed, intent, persistent, stalwart, persevering, tenacious, steadfast, unwavering, immovable, headstrong, unflinching, strong minded, self willed.

I pray daily for each of my kids and I pray that when it comes to Sara and her faith in God (of which she loves Jesus and many times ministers to her Momma without knowing it) will be all of these words that describe her to a tee! She is our little miracle :) She and Eli were born 8 weeks too early, she was born breech bag intact (doc had to break her umbilical sac), was bruised from heel to mid-back, needed a couple of blood transfusion and had a harder time breathing than Eli did. But because of the personality God gave her she over came those obstacles and is a beautiful 6 yr old who loves school and loves to socialize :)
I had Jaron take the pictures of us today. The above picture, where it looks like I am whispering a secret in her ear was taken accidentally and I think it is most definitely my favorite picture we have together. Jaron is a very good photographer for his age! He even told us to move from where I wanted the picture taken just so we wouldn't have the sun in our eyes. We are truly blessed with our diaperheads!

Today's Devotional

Faith Becomes Sight

Every morning I get up and read through my email specifically looking for my daily devotion that I get from CrossWalk ministries. Today's devotion spoke deep to my soul and I just wanted to stop and share it with you. I have included just a portion of the devotional today (the part that really spoke to me). I hope you enjoy!

"Have faith that whatever you ask for in prayer is already granted you, and you will find that it will be" (Mark 11:24).

When my little son was about ten years of age, his grandmother promised him a stamp album for Christmas. Christmas came, but no stamp album, and no word from grandmother. The matter, however, was not mentioned; but when his playmates came to see his Christmas presents, I was astonished, after he had named over this and that as gifts received, to hear him add,

"And a stamp album from grandmother."

I had heard it several times, when I called him to me, and said, "But, Georgie, you did not get an album from your grandmother. Why do you say so?"

There was a wondering look on his face, as if he thought it strange that I should ask such a question, and he replied, "Well, mamma, grandma said, so it is the same as." I could not say a word to check his faith.

A month went by, and nothing was heard from the album. Finally, one day, I said, to test his faith, and really wondering in my heart why the album had not been sent,

"Well, Georgie, I think grandma has forgotten her promise."

"Oh, no, mamma," he quickly and firmly said, "she hasn't."

I watched the dear, trusting face, which, for a while, looked very sober, as if debating the possibilities I had suggested. Finally a bright light passed over it, and he said,

"Mamma, do you think it would do any good if I should write to her thanking her for the album?"

"I do not know," I said, "but you might try it."

A rich spiritual truth began to dawn upon me. In a few minutes a letter was prepared and committed to the mail, and he went off whistling his confidence in his grandma. In just a short time a letter came, saying:

"My dear Georgie: I have not forgotten my promise to you, of an album. I tried to get such a book as you desired, but could not get the sort you wanted; so I sent on to New York. It did not get here till after Christmas, and it was still not right, so I sent for another, and as it has not come as yet, I send you three dollars to get one in Chicago. Your loving grandma."

"As he read the letter, his face was the face of a victor. "Now, mamma, didn't I tell you?" came from the depths of a heart that never doubted, that, "against hope, believed in hope" that the stamp album would come. While he was trusting, grandma was working, and in due season faith became sight.

It is so human to want sight when we step out on the promises of God, but our Savior said to Thomas, and to the long roll of doubters who have ever since followed him: "Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed."--Mrs. Rounds.

Kingdom Carnival

So tonight was the Kingdom Carnival for the kids. We had a blast :) One of my best friends, Marty, (we have been friends since college and she and her husband live here in town and we attend their church right now) did a great teaching tonight about how we are like pumpkins but even more about how God puts a smile on our face and we are to shine it for all to see. Another point was that through our smiling and shining our light for Christ is a form of praising Him and we do NOT want to let the rocks cry out for us!
After the teaching we then went to eat. We had a great chili and dogs night and the BEST cheese cake ever! Cookies for the kids. There were a good 30+ kids in attendance and they gobbled down their dogs and chips faster than I have ever seen. As soon as they were finished they were off and running :) They had a great time. There were velcro walls, big slides, a climbing thing and a bounce house just to name a few oh and face painting. At the end the kids were all gathered around and they played a question game and if the kids got them right they got a prize. They all left with prizes (bubbles and slap bracelets) and bags of candy.
There are many Christians who are adamantly against Halloween in that they do NOT even like the idea of a church having an alternative party for the kids in their church and community. Personally we do not allow our kids to go trick/treating and we do not celebrate the night at all. Although I am against celebrating all the evil that Halloween has become I am not against a church taking the opportunity to reach their community. I do believe that if a church is going to do an alternative to Halloween that they need to share the gospel and stress the importance of worshiping the Lord. Of which was definitely the theme of tonight's events.
I unfortunately did not bring my camera but Whitley did and took lots of fun pictures. Here are a few that contain our kids or us.
Naturally she got us while we were eating~UGH! But that chili sure was good :)
Here the kids were answering questions. They really had a great time and are getting to know the kids at the church. It's hard going from the PK kids where everyone wants to be your best friend to being the new kids in a church and your parents are not the pastors. This whole transition has been hard on all of us. NOT because we think being the PASTORS or being the top leaders is the most important thing but just the change of a new home, new school, new jobs, new church, new friends...new everything. Just been hard. But between last nights dinner get together with the young families of the church and the fun we had there (oh guess I didn't share about that till now). Last night, we as well as 4-5 other families with young children were invited out to one of the couples homes for a BBQ and get together. The town's trick or treating event was held and this gave all the kids an outing. A great way for our family to get to know more people in the church!
Anyway, the transition has been difficult but we are thankful for this time of rest. We do not know for how long this season of rest will last but for now we are enjoying it. It doesn't take the longing for ministry away at all. We are trusting God to open the doors He has prepared for us. Until He does we will rest and wait.

Oct. Happenings

So as of late we have been enjoying the fall color and going to the pumpkin patch here in town. The kids are adjusting to life here in Kentucky and love it. Which really makes us happy. Despite all the hardships we are enduring right now and I will not go into that here, we are blessed. Blessed with family and friends, blessed with happy kids, blessed with wonderful support for Kristofer in his school, blessed with great neighbors and that is what we focus on. God knows our hearts and He knows what our family needs. We place all of our trust in Him and His plan and pray that it will all come about and will be known to us as well.
So here are a few pictures of what we have been doing...After a fun time at the pumpkin patch we headed home and enjoyed time with Sean (he didn't go on the outing w/us he had work the 3rd shift so he was sleeping). The kids LOVE carving pumpkins and so we took that time to talk about what it means to be a Christian and used the following little saying as we scooped out the seeds.
Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin. God picks you from the patch & washes all the dirt off of you. He cuts off the top & scoops out all of the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, greed. He carves you a new smiling face & puts His light inside of you for all the world to see.
After carving and scooping of which the kids loved! This was the first year that Kristofer enjoyed getting his hands in the pumpkin and pulling out all the seeds and such. There was no melt down, no crying and no screaming about being messy. That was such a blessing for our family. All in all Kris is really gaining ground when it comes to sensory stuff like this. :) Kristofer wanted to help pick all the pumpkin flesh off the seeds and helped me rinse and dry them. He was most interested in helping me prepare and bake the seeds. When they were done he even tried a few. Which is you know Kristofer personally you would know how HUGE THIS WAS! For kids like Kristofer who have serious issues with smells, texture and tastes of different foods for him to even put it in his mouth was a major milestone. I am so proud of him for trying. Although he did not like them he did try. Of the rest of the kids Eli and Sara LOVED them. In fact Eli asked if I would buy another pumpkin just to make more roasted seeds :) I told him just as soon as they drop in price we might just do that. Maybe this time I can get Kristofer to try pumpkin pie or pumpkin muffins :) Ya never know! He might just like them!