Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."--1 Thes 5:16-18

What a wonderful thanksgiving day! I'm in Delaware with my parents and my sister, and we've already enjoyed our harvest feast. We began our day with a 5K in downtown Wilmington, an annual tradition for the Graff/Ruff family. Jackson's finally down for his nap--he was more interested in playing with the Old Bay seasoning and Cloves than in eating turkey. He can actually name spices, he's going to be a chef someday! I wanted to note some things I am especially thankful for this year.

-my wonderful son Jackson, who is the love of my life
-the ability to see the world more and more through a child's eyes
-my ability to run a 5K
-God's sovereignty and perfect will in ALL things (Romans 12:8)
-my parents who will make the trip to Michigan no matter what (it was brutal, let me tell you!)
-my husband JW who has given up his goals to stay home with Jackson and allow me to achieve mine
-good friends who are always just a phone call away
-Cool Whip

Happy Thanksgiving! I'll post some pictures later.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Starbucks


I wish I had my camera today! I took Jackson into Starbucks since I was craving a Skinny Vanilla Latte. I ordered him an Organic Milk and an Apple Bran Muffin. We were both sitting at the bistro table, Jackson was wearing a sweater vest, a button-down shirt, and khakis, and he was sipping his organic milk and eating a bran muffin! It was priceless. I will have to try to recreate the moment when I have my camera, but I don't think my mind will ever forget that precious image. I'm starting him early on the Starbucks brand addiction.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Bethesda

I recently read a blog posting that referenced John 5:2ff; a paralyzed man was at the pool in Bethesda, a place where people that needed healing came to get it. Jesus saw the man and asked, "Do you want to get well?" Of course he did, but Jesus wanted him to have faith that it could happen! He healed him right there. Jesus asks me and all of us, "Do you want to get well?" To be healed from whatever--illness, sin, hurts, hangups. Answer him with a resounding "YES!" And believe.

Jacksoni-sms

Here is what Jackson has been up to:

He is 20 months old!
His favorite place to play in the basement, which is known simply by "Down, down!"
He loves to play with his "Shake'n'Go" cars from the movied "Cars," Mader ("may") and Lightning McQueen.
He imitates any word that we say and is so curious as to what everything is called.
When I make dinner, he rushes in to tell JW that din-din is ready ("Din-din, din-din!")
He's into eating eggs at breakfast again.
It's a real challenge to get him to eat regular dinner, but I persevere.
He is VERY stubborn, and he throws regular temper tantrums if he doesn't get his way.
When he wants me to hold him, he'll reach up his arms and say, "Hold, hold."
When he wakes up in the morning, I try to get him to say Good Morning to Daddy, but he just says, "Bye-bye" because he wants to go downstairs.
When we pray every morning, he sits quietly with us and even folds his hands sometimes.
He loves baths! He'll even tolerate me washing his hair now.
He can recognize quite a few letters on his own; as far as numbers, his fave is still the number "9."
I let him watch about 20 minutes of a John Deere DVD the other morning (he was up at 5:30am and I was running out of creative options to keep him quite while JW slept). He loved it! I'm trying not to let him watch TV officially until he turns 2, but I think every once in awhile it will be okay.
Grammi is now "mimi" and Grandma is now "ga-ga." Nana is still "nana," lucky her.

I haven't blogged in awhile, and so much has been going on, so I wanted to brainstorm and give a few updates so I won't forget how adorable my little boy is.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Walk By Faith

JW and I were blessed this past weekend to sing at our church. He played guitar as well. It was so much fun to sing together and worship God, and it was so cool to see everyone else really worshipping with us. We chose Jeremy Camp's song, "Walk By Faith," which went so well with our Pastor's sermon. Here is a link to the sermon. Click on "Sermons," then it's the sermon from November 15 entitled "The Real Church: Real Faith." Our song is at the very end, so you can scroll to the end to hear it. Of course, if you want to listen to the sermon too, it's great!

Friday, November 6, 2009

Updates


I haven't blogged since Halloween, and I wanted to make sure I wrote about it. The Friday before, JW and I took Jackson to the YMCA Trunk or Treat. We dressed him as a construction worker so that he could be comfortable yet still carry around his beloved bulldozer ("Bull-D"). Well he won in his age group for best costume! We were so proud of our little guy. I simply wrote "Book" on my face to be FaceBook, an idea I stole from a recent episode of "The Office." Jackson kept pointing at my face and saying "uh-oh."

The other day, JW and I went outside to tackle the leaves in our backyard. Jackson kept pushing over the trashcan with all of the leaves in it. Oh well.

Last night, we had dinner at our neighbor's house, and she had flautas, a Mexican dish. Jackson ate a whole one by himself!

Personally, I am just trying to make it through each day, work has been a bear. I pray for strength to get through this time, while still enjoying this precious time with my baby boy.