Hello Second Grade!

A week from today, I shall become, among the other things which define me,

Mrs. Wood, 2nd grade teacher.

I am VERY excited and super grateful for God's provision of opportunities in our family.  We can look back and see how he has used the ups and downs of our lives to bring us to this point.  Always in my mind, though, is the fact that an opportunity for me means some loss in others' lives.  Mrs. Meehan, who was my fifth grade teacher and Isaac's 2nd grade teacher, is retiring earlier than she planned, and I'm certain that when she imagined her retirement, this is never the way she saw it happening in her mind.  So, it is a bittersweet thing for me...the sweet in the looks on those kiddos faces today when I got to break the news to them that we would be spending every day together, the bitter as I think that Mrs. Meehan thought she would be spending every day with them during this school year.  Life is made up of the bitter and the sweet and they go together to make something beautiful.

I am thankful...for a new adventure, for a job I LOVE, for Mrs. Meehan and others who have left a legacy before me...

I just now stopped to listen...

...and this is what I'm hearing:

• rain on the tin roof of our porch
• Simon singing Ezra to sleep
• Tim talking on the phone to a sweet college student, talking him through how to love his room mate to Jesus
• thunder rolling
• a quilt and coffee calling out my name

Loving the sounds in this old house tonight.

Thankful...

What a super-fun night.  So many of the people we love the most all in one room together eating yummy food and talking about great memories.  We felt so loved and honored to be appreciated and celebrated by the FCC Church family tonight.  Thank you for speaking into our lives.  Thank you for your presence.  Thank you for your cards.  Thank you for the pictures...oh, the pictures!!!  Thank you for being on the journey with us.  We are grateful that our paths still cross on a regular basis.  We are grateful, too, for the years  God chose to place us in youth ministry at First Christian Church.  We came as young kids with a brand new baby.  Now we're old[er] with 3 sweet boys in the house and such a great group of "big kids" we get to watch become adults.  We remain...thankful. 

I love this man.  I can't believe I get to do life with
him every.single.day.  I am a blessed woman.

On the Journey Towards Green

The Wood family has by no means "arrived" in the area of being green.  In fact, unless God speaks in a clear English voice to me about the subject, this mama will likely never enforce using the used sink water to flush the toilet.  However, we have arrived upon some convictions for our family on this subject.  I thought it might be fun to share them in case some of you find yourselves wondering what your family could do.  We don't, in any way, claim that these are things that all people should do...we're just sharing where we're at in hopes that it may inspire or encourage you on your journey.

Why green??  Well, for us, it started when we read the book The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne.  The subject of the book is not really "green living", but it did convict our hearts as we realized that we have been entrusted with resources and we had not been taking good care...or ANY care...of many of those resources.  It convicted us in other areas as well, but those are blog posts for another day.

We started slowly...in the beginning we simply recycled cardboard and that was all.  Then we added plastics and paper.  This family threw away a LOT of paper!!!!  We soon realized that we had almost no trash anymore and, for awhile, we even canceled our trash service.  A few months later, we started back up with the trash service because, even though we had very little trash, we still needed for it to go somewhere.  However, we were able to sign up for a lesser quantity, lower cost service.

 Next, we started using cloth napkins.  We keep them in a bowl or a basket in the middle of the table. I already had some cloth napkins, and I bought a couple more sets on clearance at TJ Maxx and Burlington Coat Factory. You could also make them from a sheet or your favorite material, but I haven't been that ambitious.  At first it was difficult to convince the boys that they really could wipe ketchup or barbecue sauce on the cloth napkin, but now they are pros, believe me!!

 Most recently, I have stopped buying paper towels.  I bought two packages of shop towels in the automotive department at Wal-Mart and this adorable large cookie jar, also from Wal-Mart.  I painted a piece of card stock with chalkboard paint and glued it on the cookie jar.  Again, it took a few tries to get the boys to wipe up their spills with these rather than running for toilet paper or the McDonalds napkins in the glove box of the car, but now they know just what to do when a spill occurs.  Ok...they don't always do it, but they know WHAT to do.

What about keeping these napkins and shop towels clean though?  It really has not added any work to my life.  I bought this cute little apple basket at Goodwill for 99 cents.  It sits in our mudroom and everyone knows that you bring the soiled napkins or towels into the mudroom, spray them with the "we hope this doesn't stain" spray, and drop them in this basket.  When the basket gets full, I throw them in the washer...maybe along with some towels or by themselves if there are enough for a load or with underwear...who knows.  Ok, not with underwear, well maybe not.  Perhaps you should never use the cloth napkins if you come to our house.  Haha!!!

There you have it...either my first of many or maybe my first and only post on green living at the Wood house.

Our Baby Is No Longer A Baby

Simon started preschool today.  I wasn't sad, but I was a bit nostalgic.  We are ready and excited to have "big kids", but there's something about knowing there will be no more strollers, diapers, nursing, baby blankets, passies, etc. that makes this mama just a wee bit sad....not sad enough to cry, but a little sad nonetheless.

Simon was all "big boy" today, ready to go and excited.  He didn't really want his picture taken, but Daddy told him he didn't have a choice (God bless Daddy!!).  So, he compromised by standing behind the small brown chair...I guess he thought he won the battle if part of his legs were not showing???

The Wood boys have a tradition of a "thumbs up" picture with Daddy on the first day of preschool.  Actually, I don't really think its a tradition, but somehow we've done it with all three.  Maybe Daddy is just a thumbs-up type of guy.  I love that these three boys are all so different, but every single picture shows that great Daddy of theirs.  I love these men...

Loving our new chalkboard quote...

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.’ We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

–Marianne Williamson

Vacation With Three Boys

Simon took this picture of me.  He was so much fun on vacation.  He no longer needs swim diapers or a stroller.  He's one of the big boys now.  He doesn't even really need his floaties, but mama still made him wear them occasionally.  He loved the beach, and would spend almost an hour making things in the sand all by himself.  He loved to help me take pictures, too (see picture of me with my tongue out!!).












Isaac has officially become a young man.  He enjoyed the freedom of being older...going up to the hotel room by himself while the rest of us were swimming, staying up a little later than the other two, reading for hours in the car.  I love that he was thoughtful on this trip, offering to take his brothers to the room so Daddy and I could read by the pool, not asking for every trinket we passed by.  He found out that he loves crab legs, so he and I ordered them together every chance we got.


















Ezra was always ready to throw the football or the baseball every time the car stopped or he stepped out onto the beach.  He also began a love affair with ESPN.  We don't get channels at home, so this mama realized that if we did, this house full of boys would have the TV on ESPN most of the time!!  I see channels in our future! ;)  I loved on this trip that Ezra was always ready for a party and made everything we did so much fun.