Thank you God...

... for warm days in February, big Luke-y smiles, Zoe walking and playing outside.

Overheard...

I've just been giggling about this all weekend and wanted to share it somehow...

Friday I told the boys to play with each other while I was making dinner (no Wii, no TV, etc just play). So Andrew says: "Fine mom." And then turns to Luke and says:

"C'mon Luke, you can come play my new game 'Hoog the Floog' - someone has to be the dog."


No, I have no idea what that game is, how to spell it or even what it means. But Luke just trotted right after him as though he knew and was totally fine with being the dog. I'm not sure why - it just cracked me up. Something about older brothers in there just made me laugh. Maybe you had to be there.

We're having a(nother) baby!

I'm sure anyone reading this has probably already heard another way, but it seemed appropriate to say a word about our newest addition here: Another sweet little Patterson baby is 12 weeks in to what is (and will be) a healthy, joyful pregnancy. We expect to meet this baby around August 26, 2011 (the official due date!). Zoe and the new baby will be about 19 months apart. So when he/she is born Andrew will be 5, Luke 3 and Zoe 1...as they are now.

Yes, we will find out the sex of the baby; most likely sometime in the first week of April.

We are excited to have a fourth child and there are often other emotions that accompany the excitement. These are usually the same as any family who welcomes any additional children: how can we possibly handle one more?!?! Because you only know the reality you're living in now. But - as our encouraging friend, Steven, said to us - "If you don't think you're a 4 child mother or father, that's ok. God does. And your job is to just agree with Him and watch Him make you one." Ok. I think I can do that!

Part of me is afraid that people are tired of us having babies and no one will want to celebrate this one with us. One of my friends jokingly said after several of us had had 3 babies: "if anyone has another one there's not going to be any more parties for you." For some reason this has stuck in my head and made me doubt a little bit whether people truly will want to celebrate with us. But I want to celebrate this baby! This seems like a major turning-point for the future of our (now quite big) family and we're looking forward. With hope.

Zoe is 1!!!

Zoe turned 1 on January 11 (1 on 1-11-11!). I cannot believe it's been one year since I had my sweet baby girl. She is all that her name says: light and life. She is indeed full of life! Zoe has quite a little personality on her now. She is always "talking" to people (her brothers, strangers in the store, whoever!), she lets us know when she is done with something: she took herself off of formula cold-turkey and throws food off her tray in about one second if she doesn't like something! She is full of life and laughter and fun. And she is light. Light to our family. Light to my heart. Light on a bad day. Light on a good day. Light. Here she is on her "birth-day" and then her first birthday:

We celebrated her birthday on a cruise ship! We were somewhere between Fort Lauderdale and Haiti. It was quite a beautiful view. And all her favorite people (ok well except maybe Krissy) were there: our family, my parents and all her uncles. Here are a few shots from the party. It was a great day indeed.

Happy Birthday Zoe! You are already all that we hoped for in a daughter and more.

One Word for the New Year

Last night over dinner on New Year's Eve, Bill and I reviewed 2010 and looked forward to 2011. We did a calendar review with favorite memories large and small. We talked about our dreams for the future of our family. And we both came up with one word that we felt would be big for us in 2011...one word to start the New Year.

Bill's word was GROWTH and my word was HOPE.

We each had one word we felt was kind of a runner-up...for Bill it was "patience" and for me it was "friendship."

Of course there were multiple reasons (family, personal, external, etc) why we each chose our words. I chose "Hope" because I sometimes struggle with hopelessness. I've recently realized that when I go to my "bad place" it's because I'm feeling hopeless. This is a critical verse for me to commit into my heart:

Romans 8:24-25 "But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." And this is followed by an assurance that the Spirit of God intercedes for God's children on their behalf.

This is so important for me to grasp. I have no idea how to get there but I know that I'm sick of my lack of trust in God and hope for what I do not see in my life. Not material stuff (even though I have dreams of an addition on our house!) - it's never that stuff. I can wait all day for that. It's the stuff of who I am...the essence of my heart. The dreams for what God will do in and through my life. I have dreams that feel further away than ever right now. But I'm to have Hope. I'm to wait in eager expectation of these dreams happening in my life. But I don't do that. Not even close. Instead I fall into the "how can you really believe that will happen someday?!" or the "where's your plan to make that happen yourself?" trap of hopelessness. So this is the year that God is going to teach me to have HOPE. Somehow.

And friendship. So many friendship fronts shifting in my life. I want friends here in Anderson. I want playmates on our street for my kids. I want us to see our couples' friends more often. I LONG for richness in friendship. I see that the friendships in our life have been trimmed in the past year and I'm hoping that pruning leads to new growth in 2011.

So - Hope and Friendship. That's what 2011 will bring me. What about you? One or 2 words for you?