A Broken Habit

Ever since Andrew was a very little guy he has favored sucking on his thumb for comfort. He never did it constantly, mainly only when he was either tired or nervous (he often gets nervous in strange surroundings and especially when people he doesn't know talk to him). And when I said thumb, I mean thumb; he only ever sucked on his left thumb. With that he quickly developed a large callous on the top.

A few months ago he started his teeth started bothering him and he rotated how he sucked on his thumb. In doing this he started to create a new callous on the pad of his thumb. not to far into that he ended up cutting his thumb with his teeth. This caused him pain every time he went to suck on it.

Todd and I had been discussing how we were going to get him to break this habit shortly before and God blessed us with this "easy way" out, granted neither of liked that our little guy was in pain during it. So we took the opportunity and ran with it. We told him every time he tried to suck on it that it was giving him ouchies and within a couple of days there were no issues. Bedtime was tear free within those couple of days and naptime followed a few days after (this is when he used his thumb the most).

We are so thankful for this habit being broken and his thumb is healing very nicely.

My view during snuggle time has become even more precious.
But I will miss it a little, since he looks even more like a big boy now.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

We are so blessed to have a wonderful and free little pumpkin patch just outside of town, it is perfect for quick morning getaways and can entertain little ones for at least a couple of hours. And better yet they added more this year!

Our first trip out there we got to enjoy with my sister and her husband (truth is they wanted to borrow our son so they didn't feel silly going to the pumpkin patch:) but no worries he adores them). Here are some pictures from that day.

Being Uncle Neal's big helper.

Loving the corn pit.

 

 Our take for the day. And yes the big tall pumpkin weighs almost as much as Andrew, 

but I just had to have it.

The next time that we went we were blessed to go with a friend of mine and her wonderful four kids. She has been such a blessing to me as our friendship grows and it is so much fun to watch our kids play together.

 My fiend's oldest boy taught him how to swim in the corn,

now he swims everywhere, especially in the bathtub.

 

Running through the hay bale "maze" - it was a simple U shape 

made for little kids, but still great fun. 

Lastly we got to join my other sister and her kids at a pumpkin patch near where we grew up while we were there helping with harvest. He could have stayed there all day too but it was very very chilly that day.

 Running through the corn maze,

on the hunt for his cousins

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year and adding in the fun of pumpkin patches makes it even better. Sadly our weather has taken a turn for the cold so our pumpkin patch trips may be done for the year.

Choosing Joy, Much More than Happiness

I was very convicted yesterday morning at my women's Bible study. We were all asked this question in our workbook...What are the things that steal joy from you? I quickly answered it with some typical answers that a lot of people would come up with...crabby child, not being able to finish projects, interruptions, etc.

A friend in my small group quickly challenged me after discussing what I had written down, I don't think it was meant as a direct challenge to me but I definitely needed to hear it. She said that nothing outside of ourselves can steal our joy. Whether I still have joy is dependent on how I decide to react to the situations going on around me. Wow did I need to hear that reminder!

There have been a lot of times in the past few weeks that I have allowed the situations that surround me to affect me to a level that I allow my joy to slip away. These situations probably would have made any person unhappy, I mean who really is going to be happy when their toddler woke up in the middle of the night for an hour or so and then decided he would be up and ready for the day at 5:30, but I allowed his crabbiness and my tiredness to steal my joy away that day.

Romans 5:3-4 "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation."

My study Bible describes this verse with these words...Joy comes in knowing that no matter what happens God will use everything for our ultimate good. I have been challenged to put a large defining line between Joy and Happiness. Situations are going to arise that aren't going to make me happy but I don't have to let them steal my joy.

I have chosen to take steps on those not so happy days to change my surroundings to strengthen the joy inside of me. But greater than that I have decided to hide these verses in my heart so I have a constant reminder to choose joy.

Psalm 118:24 says "This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it."

Philippians 4:4 says "Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again - rejoice!"

Having happiness is dependent on feelings and surroundings, but having joy is a choice. This is a choice that I have to make every day and I will strive to say yes to joy every single day.

 

I chose to prevent any stealing of joy today after a late night and a early morning...

A trip to a near by pond, Andrew was so excited to see all the dragonflies at the water's edge

and to search for fish and frogs in the water.

A very enjoyable morning with my little man.