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Snow in the Desert? What?

We live in the desert.  And just about everyday is sunny.  So, I get excited whenever it is cloudy...simply because it is out of the ordinary.

So, you can imagine how excited I was when we all got out of Cru and saw that snow had blanketed the campus last Thursday night.  We made quite a scene...with students making snow angels, having snowball fights, and taking lots of pictures.  It was wonderful.

When we got home, I (along with our friend and babysitter, Naomi) immediately woke Caleb up.  There was no way he was missing out on this...even if it was 10:30 at night.  We bundled up and quickly went outside to play.  We built a little snowman, threw snowballs at the wall, and just had a really great time.  It was past midnight before Caleb got to sleep again, but it was entirely worth it.  It's the stuff memories are made of.

I am taking a photo for every day of December...and I am trying to scrap them for the Holidays in Hand class I mentioned earlier.  This is the layout for the third day.  Click on it to see it larger.

I won something!

The year Caleb was born, I bought two books with the most beautiful scrapbooking pages I had ever seen.  The author, Cathy Zielske, has design skills that create serious eye candy, and I have learned so much from those books.  While I really haven't done much scrapbooking since then (just one album and several random pages), I have used all that she teaches in lots of design work for the ministry.  And, it was her photos and photography tips that encouraged me to get my dslr.  I am a big fan.

So, tonight I made a comment on her blog for a giveaway she was doing for two free spots ($100 value) in her upcoming class, Design Your Life.  Out of almost 1000 people, I got one of those spots!!!!! I am so excited and cannot wait to learn more from her.   

What a sweet blessing!  I will be so glad to be a little better trained in this stuff...especially as designing printed materials for Cru has become a part of how I am serving the Lord now as a mom.

You can see her post here.

Christmas Card Grammar

It's that wonderful time of the year again, and a lot of us are working on our Christmas cards.  So, I wanted to pass along a grammar tip that I think many people don't know.  There is more info on this website as well as on this website.

When signing cards, it is grammatically correct to write "Love, the Peltons."
Is is grammatically incorrect to write "Love, the Pelton's." 

See the difference?  It's not possessive and doesn't need an apostrophe.  I notice it a lot when we get cards in the mail and thought it might be helpful to share.  Brandon reminded me that he had been doing this until we signed our first Christmas cards as a couple.  He had to see it on the internet before he believed me.  Seriously, what did we do before the internet?

I am kind of a nerd and really enjoy proofreading newsletters and such.  So, stuff like this just jumps off a page at me.  

This makes me happy...

The following little dialogue (written in Caleb's own language) took place just now as Brandon and Caleb were working on building a fire.  Caleb doesn't like being in the backyard by himself these days because he is afraid of the neighbor's cat.  So, Brandon had brought a load of firewood inside and left Caleb for a moment.  The little man followed soon after with a sad look on his face.  

Caleb:  "Daddy, you keep not staying with me."
Daddy:  "Oh, did I come inside without telling you?"
Caleb:  "Yeah, you walkeded away from me.  You got away from my love."
Daddy (smiling):  "I did, did I?"
Caleb:  "Yeah, I love you."
(and as they were on their way back outside...)
Caleb:   "You're my best friend." 

Caleb and I have this ongoing thing when I am affectionate to him and he wants to be playful.  He turns to me grinning and says, "I get away from your love." And, I say something like, "You can't get away from my love."  And then it goes on from there...something like The Runaway Bunny story by Margaret Wise Brown.  Until now, Daddy hasn't really been a part of it...so we both thought this was pretty funny....and random.

I really like these two.

Caleb's Eye Update

Yesterday, we had another eye appointment for Caleb.  We went in sure that Dr. Simmons was going to tell us that Caleb needed surgery to fix his eyes.  For more info about his intermittent exotropia, read this post.

We have seen Caleb's eyes improve...over all.  But, one day after we had forgotten a few days of patching, he was really tired and one of his eyes went so far out that I know he was seeing double.  He was crying and covering his eye, and I could do absolutely nothing about it.  It was heartbreaking.  Apart from that day, things have gotten better...but we have been pretty certain he would need surgery.

And it seems that for everyone we have talked to who has had the surgery (or knows someone who has), multiple surgeries have been required.  So, we really didn't want Caleb to have to have this surgery.  Although the crazy hard things our friends have been through lately have given us perspective, we have prayed that this step would not be necessary.

Yesterday, after the doctor examined him, he looked at us and said, "good news."  Caleb's eyes had improved considerably since the last visit.  He said he was "tickled" about it, and he wouldn't need surgery.  In fact, we don't even need to continue eye patching.  We will have a follow up in six months.  We are so grateful that God answered our prayers in this way.  Thank You, Lord!

The Lies We Believe

Every woman (and man) should see this. And how can a program such as Photoshop be so wonderful and despicable at the same time?

Tonight's Prayer

Me: "...and thank You for this little boy and his daddy..."

Caleb: "...and Mommy.  Thank You for Mommy.  She's cute."

Me: "What did you say, honey?"

Caleb: "You're cute.  And thank You for our friends...and for guitars...and my guitar...and drums. And, I play guitar.  And I pray for someone to play drums while I play guitar.  Amen."

"Hey babe!"

So, if I counted how many times those two words are shouted in our home, either by Brandon or me, it would be a surprisingly large number.  "Babe" is just what we call each other, and "Hey" is the word we use to get the other's attention.  What is the even more surprising number, however, is the amount of times we hear "Hey babe!" yelled from the mouth of our little boy.

Caleb, I think, has determined that it must be my name.  So, when calling "Mommy" doesn't work, he soon resorts to "Hey babe!"  I haven't yet stopped laughing enough to correct him.  If only you could hear how funny it is with his little voice.  It's just one of many things he does that entertain us.

Operation Christmas Child

Operation Christmas Child is a ministry of Samaritan's Purse.  Last year, 7.6 million shoe boxes were collected and sent all over the world to children in need.  That means that 7.6 million children experienced the love of Jesus in the form of dolls, stuffed animals, coloring books, soap, toothpaste, cars, etc.

We are big fans of OCC, and this year has been even more fun.  Caleb is enjoying buying toys for "little kids who don't have toys." Stuffing shoe boxes is a great way for Caleb (and us) to learn to share what God has given us. Check out their website to find a location near you.