Garrison turned 7 after being here for just a couple of weeks. He reminded me at dinner one night that we had not talked about what kind of birthday he wanted. Oops.
Sorry other Mamas out there, I maintain that "Mom of the Year" title. You know that having your child remind you that you need to discuss plans for his birthday is a prerequisite for said title.
So, I was all ears as he dreamed about a Minecraft birthday. Creepers, Stevies, green stone, red stone...confession: I.Dont.Get.It. I'm lost like a ball in high weeds when I play the virtual Legos with him. A train wreck of sorts. Whatever man, I reluctantly happily obliged in his quest to have Minecraft done for his day.
With my stellar track record, you would be shocked to know that I waited until the DAY BEFORE his birthday to buy the needed supplies. Yep, there it is again. Awesome-ness at its finest y'all. Mommies of Minecrafters, listen closely to what I'm about to say. They do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, carry Minecraft party supplies ANYWHERE. I learned the hard way. Now you know. Buy them from Amazon. Six months ahead of party date.
As I drove all over my neck of the woods in the its-all-new-to-me and massive Las Vegas, I melted under not only the outrageous heat of this city but also the pressure to make my child's first birthday away from home a success.
For years, I have decorated the house the night before each boys' birthday so that they would wake up to a magical surprise the next morning. I was determined on my jaunt to find balloons and decorations that would work for the Minecraft theme and have them adorn our abode for the next day. You know, since my bubble was busted for actual Minecraft party supplies. My last ditch effort boiled down to the color scheme. Blues, greens, and browns were the colors of choice for Minecraft galore.
AND, I had to bake his Creeper cake. Yep, Betty got busy at 9:00 whipping up the just-right green buttercream icing. It is still 2,000 degrees at 9:00 pm here in the desert. Buttercream icing doesn't like this very much. Alas, I pressed on. And, it turned out really cute and yumm-o! Move on over Martha.
Crepe paper streamers found their new home twisting and turning across the hollows of the living room. Helium balloons floated in the air while being gently anchored to lamp posts. Other balloons were quietly scattered all over the floor of a sleeping six year old's room. For the next evening when he laid those blonde locks on his pillow, he would be the perfect age of seven. Streamers hung with great anticipation for his sleepy eyes to wake in the morning and open his door to their happy threshold.
Decorations hung with care. Freshly iced cake tucked away in the fridge. A mommy's heart full for the love of her first born and celebrating him.
The next morning, I was met with an excited boy, too eager to sleep another wink, beckoning me to get out of bed. Creeper pancakes were prepared and scarfed away. An overpriced foam Minecraft pick axe was gifted to the birthday boy from his brothers. Gift wrap flew as he smiled seeing that perfectly chosen present.
Considering how much he enjoyed climbing rocks on our cross-country excursion, we found a rock climbing center and signed him up for a couple hours. He harnessed up and got lots of attention from his instructor. And, without fail, he loved it! I enjoyed watching him be brave and stretching himself to get higher each time. I did not, however, enjoy watching all of the other incredibly fit people climbing. Instead, I day dreamed about eating cake and ice cream after dinner. I'm, unfortunately, one to err on the side of cake. Sorry toned body and awesome muscles. You obviously will never inhabit the body of Ashley Mosley. Cheers.
G's instructor told us about a climbing camp and a Groupon for it. Umm, excuse me, did you say "Groupon"? Because, if you did, I slam on the brakes for those. Sure enough, we snagged a steal of a deal on a week long climbing camp for GL. Happy birthday buddy! Glad your momma plans in a advance for your gifts too. High five.
We wrapped the day up with frozen pizza (any other fans of frozen pizzas on sale? Holla), cake and ice cream, and Skyping with the fam!
GL opened his gift from all the grandparents and Aunt Amanda. Yep, we've fallen into the my-seven-year-old-has-an-iPad2-and-we-share-a-first-gen-dinosaur trap. Brian and I went back and forth on whether or not to let him have this expensive piece of technology that essentially could drain every brain cell he ever had if we weren't careful. {I'm pretty sure that GL would stay glued to it FOREVER if we did not monitor his time. Because I'm pretty convinced that I have ADD, we have to monitor his time with the use of tickets. The boys each get 14 tickets a week. Each is worth 30 minutes of screen time. You watch a two hour movie, you hand over four tickets. You get tickets on Saturday night. If you run out of them on Tuesday, too bad, so sad.} We ultimately decided that this would be great for the boys to use with homeschooling, Face timing family, and for parental stealing. Yep, just said that. It is VERY beneficial for homeschooling research. Ahem
So, once he opened that present, he could no longer remember his name, or that anyone was even talking to him on Skype. I'm pretty sure he woke up at 3:00 the next morning fully dressed for the day and ready to play on a gift that I, still to this day, have never received. Dude, when I was seven, I got Barbies. Or My Little Pony. Or crayons and a coloring book.
A week and half after G's day was the Fourth of July. We celebrated by organizing more rooms, boiling hot dogs on the stove (don't judge, we are grill-less, much to our dismay... there is nothing better than a grilled hotdog. Charred. Yum! ), and eventually heading out to watch fireworks with new friends. Our super awesome district Overseers are Randy and Annette Sapp. They were so kind to invite us to their son's community park to enjoy fireworks.
For my peeps back in Chattanooga, it sweetly reminded me of Pops in the Park. This community is higher in elevation, and we got to see fireworks paint the sky all over the Las Vegas Valley.
It was a surreal moment as we sat there looking at the neon lights of the Strip shrouded by glistening sparkles of fireworks. And, to top it all off, rain was moving in. Complete with lightning. And my inner-meterologist shrieked with glee. It.was.beautiful. The threat ofrain a sprinkle sent some rushing for cover. But, our skin soaked in those delightful five seconds of precipitation.
So, we survived our first major celebrations sans family and friends back home. Although we missed everyone terribly, we felt love from new friends and embraced time together as a family of five.
The day-to-day is also a place that we are having to learn to celebrate. Have you ever struggled to find the celebration in the day-to-day? Did you ever feel like you had to dig deep to see something worth smiling over? I would like to report that everything has been dreamy. That we have a full launch team formed, that we have raised all of our funds, that we have found a full time job with benefits, that we have secured the perfect facility to house our church. Nope. None of that.
However, we celebrate the day-to-day:
Brian has a job! Two hundred applications later, he has a job. The Lord provided. It is a part time job that we are extremely grateful for. And we know that the Lord can make much out of a little. Loaves and fishes, anyone?
We have some commitments for our launch team! Some precious people are coming alongside us to get this thing off the ground. We are still believing that the Lord will send the others who are called to help. And that they will be gifted in areas that we are not!
Funds are still coming in! Individuals, churches, and businesses have seen the call that the Lord has for The Springs. Those financial gifts are already being put into action to love on people and getting the ball rolling.
I still have insurance coverage from my teaching job in Tennessee until the end of August! Praise the Lord! If my crazy children continue to jump off of the stairs and the back of the couch and break a bone, we are covered for another month! Whoop whoop!
No church home yet, but believing that God will provide the perfect location, for the perfect price, at the perfect time! He's proven Himself before. He will not leave us now.
Even though things are not going as smoothly as we would like for them to go, we know that He holds our day-to-day. He grows and stretches us. He allows us the chance to celebrate no matter what!
Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Crepe paper streamers found their new home twisting and turning across the hollows of the living room. Helium balloons floated in the air while being gently anchored to lamp posts. Other balloons were quietly scattered all over the floor of a sleeping six year old's room. For the next evening when he laid those blonde locks on his pillow, he would be the perfect age of seven. Streamers hung with great anticipation for his sleepy eyes to wake in the morning and open his door to their happy threshold.
Decorations hung with care. Freshly iced cake tucked away in the fridge. A mommy's heart full for the love of her first born and celebrating him.
The next morning, I was met with an excited boy, too eager to sleep another wink, beckoning me to get out of bed. Creeper pancakes were prepared and scarfed away. An overpriced foam Minecraft pick axe was gifted to the birthday boy from his brothers. Gift wrap flew as he smiled seeing that perfectly chosen present.
Considering how much he enjoyed climbing rocks on our cross-country excursion, we found a rock climbing center and signed him up for a couple hours. He harnessed up and got lots of attention from his instructor. And, without fail, he loved it! I enjoyed watching him be brave and stretching himself to get higher each time. I did not, however, enjoy watching all of the other incredibly fit people climbing. Instead, I day dreamed about eating cake and ice cream after dinner. I'm, unfortunately, one to err on the side of cake. Sorry toned body and awesome muscles. You obviously will never inhabit the body of Ashley Mosley. Cheers.
G's instructor told us about a climbing camp and a Groupon for it. Umm, excuse me, did you say "Groupon"? Because, if you did, I slam on the brakes for those. Sure enough, we snagged a steal of a deal on a week long climbing camp for GL. Happy birthday buddy! Glad your momma plans in a advance for your gifts too. High five.
 |
We wrapped the day up with frozen pizza (any other fans of frozen pizzas on sale? Holla), cake and ice cream, and Skyping with the fam!
GL opened his gift from all the grandparents and Aunt Amanda. Yep, we've fallen into the my-seven-year-old-has-an-iPad2-and-we-share-a-first-gen-dinosaur trap. Brian and I went back and forth on whether or not to let him have this expensive piece of technology that essentially could drain every brain cell he ever had if we weren't careful. {I'm pretty sure that GL would stay glued to it FOREVER if we did not monitor his time. Because I'm pretty convinced that I have ADD, we have to monitor his time with the use of tickets. The boys each get 14 tickets a week. Each is worth 30 minutes of screen time. You watch a two hour movie, you hand over four tickets. You get tickets on Saturday night. If you run out of them on Tuesday, too bad, so sad.} We ultimately decided that this would be great for the boys to use with homeschooling, Face timing family, and for parental stealing. Yep, just said that. It is VERY beneficial for homeschooling research. Ahem
So, once he opened that present, he could no longer remember his name, or that anyone was even talking to him on Skype. I'm pretty sure he woke up at 3:00 the next morning fully dressed for the day and ready to play on a gift that I, still to this day, have never received. Dude, when I was seven, I got Barbies. Or My Little Pony. Or crayons and a coloring book.
 |
| Exactly 7 years old at 8:08 PM...I obviously wanted this picture more desperately than he did. :) |
A week and half after G's day was the Fourth of July. We celebrated by organizing more rooms, boiling hot dogs on the stove (don't judge, we are grill-less, much to our dismay... there is nothing better than a grilled hotdog. Charred. Yum! ), and eventually heading out to watch fireworks with new friends. Our super awesome district Overseers are Randy and Annette Sapp. They were so kind to invite us to their son's community park to enjoy fireworks.
For my peeps back in Chattanooga, it sweetly reminded me of Pops in the Park. This community is higher in elevation, and we got to see fireworks paint the sky all over the Las Vegas Valley.
It was a surreal moment as we sat there looking at the neon lights of the Strip shrouded by glistening sparkles of fireworks. And, to top it all off, rain was moving in. Complete with lightning. And my inner-meterologist shrieked with glee. It.was.beautiful. The threat of
So, we survived our first major celebrations sans family and friends back home. Although we missed everyone terribly, we felt love from new friends and embraced time together as a family of five.
 |
| These ladies right here! They have blessed our hearts with hugs and words of encouragement, and our bellies with some super yummy, knee slap'n, finger lick'n southern fare! |
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The day-to-day is also a place that we are having to learn to celebrate. Have you ever struggled to find the celebration in the day-to-day? Did you ever feel like you had to dig deep to see something worth smiling over? I would like to report that everything has been dreamy. That we have a full launch team formed, that we have raised all of our funds, that we have found a full time job with benefits, that we have secured the perfect facility to house our church. Nope. None of that.
However, we celebrate the day-to-day:
Brian has a job! Two hundred applications later, he has a job. The Lord provided. It is a part time job that we are extremely grateful for. And we know that the Lord can make much out of a little. Loaves and fishes, anyone?
We have some commitments for our launch team! Some precious people are coming alongside us to get this thing off the ground. We are still believing that the Lord will send the others who are called to help. And that they will be gifted in areas that we are not!
Funds are still coming in! Individuals, churches, and businesses have seen the call that the Lord has for The Springs. Those financial gifts are already being put into action to love on people and getting the ball rolling.
I still have insurance coverage from my teaching job in Tennessee until the end of August! Praise the Lord! If my crazy children continue to jump off of the stairs and the back of the couch and break a bone, we are covered for another month! Whoop whoop!
No church home yet, but believing that God will provide the perfect location, for the perfect price, at the perfect time! He's proven Himself before. He will not leave us now.
Even though things are not going as smoothly as we would like for them to go, we know that He holds our day-to-day. He grows and stretches us. He allows us the chance to celebrate no matter what!
Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
~Psalm 150:1-6
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