Let Your Thanksgiving Be Godward

Something we are thinking about at the Haygood home this Thanksgiving holiday is the direction of our thankfulness. It really should be easy to be thankful. You can look around and see that you have it better than many other people you know. And if you happen to be the most pathetic of all your acquaintances you can always "look" around the world at the misfortune and poverty and say profoundly, "I am thankful to be where I am and have what I have!" But is that true thankfulness? Simply contentment or feeling luckier than this or that person?

As Christian we know that all good gifts come from God. So we must not just be thankful, but we must be thankful TO God. We must not joy in things or people or situations, but we must joy in what he has done, created, and changed. I feel that my thankfulness has been so vague at times that I might as well have been thanking the universe or mother-nature from my blessings, or even other people for being who they are.

John Andrew is just learning to pray. At night he makes a list of all the people he wants to pray for. The list usually consists of family members and anyone he saw that day. Then we say ok lets pray. He folds his hands and says, "Gink you wookey (luke)" and then Daddy stops him and says John Andrew remember you need to address God. We pray to God! So he starts again, "God, gink you wookey, gink you pops, gink you granna, gink you papa, gink you mimi...." And the list is pretty long. We are trying to teach him that just thinking about people you love at the end of the day and saying their names out loud is fruitless. It is when we address the God of the universe and come before Him with praise, adoration, thanksgiving, and requests that there is meaning and fruit.

In the same way I am trying to train my own heart this year to yes be thankful, but to be thankful to the right One. So when I say I am thankful for Chad, what I mean is "Thank you God for creating, saving, and sanctifying him. Thank you for your sovereign, good plan in bringing us together and allowing me to walk though this earthly life with an amazing man after your own heart." When I say I am thankful for John Andrew, I mean, "Thank you God for creating this life and allowing Chad and I to raise him. Thank you for showing me through him a glimpse of how you see Jesus and us. Thank you for sanctify me through being a mom to a crazy, into-everything boy. And thank you for creating this personality that brings so much joy to our house." When I say I am thankful for Luke, I mean "Thank you God for giving us a second child, for increasing our love and our joy in that way. Thank you for the quiet times of kisses and cuddles you give me with him and for that toothless grin that melts my heart!"

I wish I had time to let you know what I mean when I say I am thankful for our parents, and siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, church family, friends past and present. For all these things I am thankful to God, for He created all things and He is to be glorified in all.

So my encouragement to you on this day and every day is to let your thanksgiving be Godward!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Injury

Well, those of you who know me know that I rarely "freak out" when it comes to injury or danger for John Andrew. I'm sure many (ahem grandmas especially) think this is a fault, and there are lots of ways that I could improve my....umm...supervision of my child. But for the most part we stay calm and relaxed. I love for him to try new things and be a BOY!

HOWEVER, even my heart rate can begin to accelerate when my son comes to me with his hands covered in blood and a razor in his mouth. No tears mind you, just curiosity about the red stuff on his hands. I quickly commanded him to open his mouth, took the razor, and began inspecting. No cuts on his tongue...none on his lips...moving on... palms are clean...fingers...there it is. A cut on his thumb about 1 cm long and very shallow. Our little champion bleeder had apparently grabbed daddy's razor off of the sink, cut his thumb, and then decided to chomp on the razor. Thankfully the razor sustained more damage than he did. I had prepared for this moment several months ago when I bought a pack of extra strong camouflage bandaids. We cleaned his cut, dried it off, and covered it with not 1, not 2, but 3 very cool bandaids! We will see how extra strong they are....

Obviously John Andrew remains unaffected!

Family Update

Well it has seemed very busy around the Haygood home. Here's a quick update on the fam.

Chad- Chad has been busy getting into a workout routine. He is training for The Northface Endurance Challenge Marathon in Georgia on October 15th. It is a long ways away and there are many daunting LONG runs ahead of him, but he is committed and ready to put in the work. He also started a new Seminary class (topic-Chruch History). He is spending his evenings reading and listening to lectures. He is excitedly attacking school right now and moving quickly through this class. He is also reading a book on prayer, preparing for weekly sermons and small group meetings, and for our leadership training classes. All of that grouped with playing with John Andrew and spending time with me adds up to a very busy time for him right now. That said, he is still very excited about the warm weather moving in and hoping to add some golf into his schedule.

John Andrew-John Andrew is a ball of energy right now. He is rarely ready for bedtime or naptime. He is becoming very particular and passionate. He wants everything to happen a certain way and if it doesn't...well...watch out! As we try to deal with his sin in these areas and help him to learn flexibility, we are excited to see how God will use his passion and attention to detail for his glory. He is loving social time right now. His best friends are Silas and Jesse. Let him play outside with other kids and he will be a happy (smelly) boy. We are beginning to attend some story times at the library which he enjoys but is still learning how to sit and listen when other children are around. We are working on a Catechism with him right now and he knows the first three answers:

1. Who made you?

GOD

2. What else did God make?

GOD MADE ALL THINGS

3. Why did God make you and all things?

FOR HIS OWN GLORY

He is learning, learning, learning! Everyday he does something or says something I didn't know he knew. We are basically just trying to keep up.

Meredith (and Luke)- That's right, we have picked a name, Luke. We are still working on a middle name but we finally have some front runners to choose from. Well Luke and I are growing. I am 24 weeks along and feeling great. I have random annoyances still like leg cramps, numb shoulder blades, and lots of trips to the bathroom, but thankfully morning sickness seems to be gone for good. I am trying to stay active, although I anticipate moving my cardio to the pool in the near future. I have also been trying to read more lately. Right now I am focusing on Bible Doctrine for our leadership training. I have mostly been busy in project mode. We are painting several rooms in our house right now and redoing the basement. I am happy to be getting a lot organized (this makes Chad happy too). Next project will be John Andrew's big boy room, then potty training, then getting all Luke's things ready. I think that will keep me sufficiently busy over the next few months.

Well that is a pretty basic update. I hope to have some fun outdoor pictures to put up soon. We have a lot happening in the next few months as well. We have the Rexillus family coming to stay next weekend, then a trip to Chicago for the Gospel Coalition Conference with the Reynolds, the Channel family's annual visit, birthing classes, John Andrew's birthday, the Cooper's visit, and then a baby. So Stay Tuned!

What a Happy Birthday

What a Happy Birthday I have had!!

Hanging out with my little man!

My gift from my Love!

Brick oven pizza for lunch. We also had steak and shrimp for dinner (no pic available:)) Now we are off to celebrate with cake and ice cream cake with friends.

To Be Like Jesus

As a gift to the young families in our church this Christmas, our leadership gave out a children's CD called "To Be Like Jesus." This CD is produced by Sovereign Grace Ministries and has been such a blessing to me as I have listened to it.

There are 12 songs that address different fruits of the Spirit. In each song our sin is contrasted with Christ perfection. In one song we see how Jesus' love is selfless while we naturally love ourselves. One of my favorite lines in that song is "Jesus set me free to love you more than me." Wow! We sing about how Jesus is the giver of joy and the perfect example of patience as he bears with us. He is the one who teaches us to be self controlled.

John Andrew is not quite old enough to sing along, but I can't wait for the day when I hear him in the back seat singing. "I want to be like Jesus, to walk and talk like Jesus. I want to live like one who follows Him!"

They are on sale now at Sovereign Grace Store!

Learning

Working on our "Day", "Dee", "Dees."

It's A . . .

BOY!BOY!BOY!BOY!BOY!BOY!BOY!BOY!BOY!BOY!

BOY!BOY!BOY!BOY!BOY!BOY!BOY!BOY!BOY!BOY!

For our son: As we think of you today, we joy in God's goodness in brining you into our family. We can't wait to meet you little boy!

"God is the one who places a specific boy in a particular home. And He does so in order that those parents who believe and obey Him might come to delight in a wise son, a son who is like Jesus Christ. “My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine. Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things” (Prov. 23:15– 16)."--Douglas Wilson

Happy Valentines Day

For a wonderful sermon on love check out Chad's sermon on 1 Corinthians 13.

Perfectly Domestic

John Andrew and I are just getting home from a quick trip to Alabama. We enjoyed family and friends and didn't stop moving from the moment we arrived to the moment we left. Now that we are home, we are doing lots of planning and preparing and mostly planning to prepare for baby no. 2.

It may be a little early but I have been thinking how our daily schedule will change to accommodate those stressful 2 mo of constant nursing, a 2 year old, and a house full of things begging to be done (not to mention serving my husband). I have many lofty ideas and it is so easy for me to put a plan on paper. Realistically though I have learned with one child, and I'm sure will learn more with 2 that plans often change.

one of my new books has given me some great insight and several points to consider as I plan. In Building Her House by Nancy Wilson in a chapter entitled "Perfectly Domestic" she says,

God is perfect, but He is not a perfectionist....The sun does not get up at the same time every day. But he does get up. The sun doesn't even set at the same time every day, but we always have a sunset. Sometimes spring is early, sometimes late. Snow arrives in October one year and stays until March, but then never shows up at all, not even for Christmas, the very next year. God's world is generally predictable, but not exactly predictable. If the weather teaches us anything, it is that God is in charge and He does as He pleases.

I find these principles very helpful as I prepare for the coming season of being a mother of 2. While I think schedules are good for me since many "small" but important duties can be easily forgotten (especially by me). They are good for John Andrew and future little ones to give security and a generally predictable life. HOWEVER, I ought not make my daily plan more important than my child/ren, husband, or any extra service God would see fit to bring my way.

May I/we remain flexible, seeking to do what God would have us do each day, not seeking to be perfectionist, simply to glorify him.

Amazon Delivery

Got some new books in today that I am super excited about...

I also got Growing up God's Way by John A. Stormer. I am excited to dig into these books. And I even have more on my wish list. Ambitious....I know!!

Unwelcome Tasks

I am redoing my calendar and trying to make sure my time is spent in such a way as to reflect proper Biblical priorities. I have been reviewing a book that has been helpful in the past called Shopping for Timeby Carolyn Mahaney and her daughters. This quote by Alexander MacLaren (although it doesn't particularly apply to calendar planning) struck me once again.

"No unwelcome tasks become any the less unwelcome by putting them off till tomorrow it is only when they are behind us and done, that we begin to find that there is a sweetness to be tasted afterwards, and that the remembrance of unwelcome duties unhesitatingly done is welcome and pleasant. Accomplished, they are full of blessing, and there is a smile on their faces as they leave us. Undone, they stand threatening and disturbing our tranquility, and hindering our communion with God. If there be lying before you any bit of work from which you shrink go straight up to it, and do it at once. The only way to get rid of it is to do it."

As a stay at home mom I often find myself putting off little unpleasant things that can be done tomorrow. The end result is I am left with a huge task that I wish I could put off again but now with an added level of stress. "I need to do a load of laundry" has quickly turned into "we have no clean clothes and I must wash everything that we own." So I will find the things "from which [I] shrink, go straight up to it, and do it at once."

One thing that I/ we didn't procrastinate today was vacuuming...

With my little helper at my side we accomplished for the week one of my least favorite chores. I am glad I don't have to do it tomorrow. The laundry pile however is still sitting in the corner. Tomorrow I plan to go "straight up to it, and do it at once."