Reflections on love or the lack thereof

After reading Angie's post entitled "Sick" I started to contemplate what is going on in my heart. I've been thinking about how I trust God and honor God and maybe even obey God, but I haven't really been loving God the last couple weeks. What happens to a relationship without the love?

Yesterday I realized I have been the same way toward Tyler the last couple weeks, too. I trust him and honor him, but haven't been terribly loving.

I reflected that I have been functioning in these two most important relationships from my own selfishness. How do God and Tyler improve my life, what am I getting out of it? Let me state, for the record, that I am getting a ton of blessings from God and Tyler and can't imagine life without them, but all this self-focus can and will corrupt both relationships. It's like I ask God to sit on the throne of my life and then tell Him to scooch over a little so I can sit up there with Him and survey His handiwork. Where is the humble praise and adoration and love?

I really appreciate what Melissa had to say in "Dumbledore's Line" about perspective and choosing what is right instead of what is easy. I felt like she was writing about my life.

Please, God, rekindle my first love. Give me an undivided heart.

Your Opinion

Maybe this photo is better than the previous because it is not as washed out and all the kids are looking. Dad and Drew are doing the annoying "heroic" pose so often preferred by the Thomas males.

Thanksgiving Thomas Family Photo

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Originally uploaded by tybythomas

Here's the annual Thomas Family photo from this past week. We were in St. Louis with Tyler's family for almost 9 days and had a great visit. Pictured: Tyler's mom and dad, Tyler's older brother, Jeff (upper left), Tyler's younger brother, Drew (upper right), our sister-in-law, Sue, and our nieces and nephew (Kate, Bo and Anna). Three out of five kids are looking, so that is pretty good.

Veggie Love

My mom sent me this link a few weeks ago. Seems like it could be a helpful way to work in more veggies (unnoticed), but part of me feels like I had my fill of pureeing when we made the kids food as babies. See what you think. Incidently, this idea comes from Jessica Seinfeld. Has anyone seen Bee Movie, yet?

Rice, Rice and More Rice

I came across this site from a blog I love called Antique Mommy. I've collected 250 grains for rice for the poor, so far. Try it out and let me know your score.

Ode to Orange

My dad had coppery auburn hair when he was younger and he did not like it if anyone said his hair was red or orange. "My hair is golden," he would insist, only half joking. I feel fine saying both my boys have red hair (though is often looks more honey colored to me), but putting them next to the pumpkins with the orange in their sweaters you can really see how often orange is the best descriptor. Fine with me. I love orange. It seems warm and bouncy, or maybe that's just my boys.



P.S. For some great fall photos check out my friend, Angie's , blog. Her girls may me want to rake some leaves.

The things kids say

We have been loving listening to the boys recently. One of my favorite things about preschool age children is hearing them express what they're thinking about and how they see the world.

BiggiE, though not preschool age, is very verbal. I use to say that one-year-olds were hard for me because they can't talk very much. God has taken away that excuse with BiggiE. At 18 months he is already linking words, for example , "Here you go", "please stop", "Judah's house". He is also a little parrot and will attempt nearly any word he hears. One of my favorites is "delicious" (sounding like dewicious).

The other day Moose was talking about when he becomes a parent. (We have been working on clarifying who is the parent and who is the child.) He told us he is going to have four kids, two boys and two girls. (I'm already looking forward to being a grandma and this sounded pretty good to me.) Then he said he is going to give his kids discipline and crepes. I chuckled and then realized that is actually probably a good balance of truth and grace:).

Ha, ha. The boys are watching the old Robin Hood movie while I type and Moose just started crying. I glanced up and saw it was the romance scene between Robin Hood and Maid Mariam. Moose lamented, "I want the day part!" Apparently, aversion to romance begins at a young age.

Recently, Tyler and I were discussing our differences of opinion on how to explain concepts to the boys. While I certainly don't want to speak baby talk, sometimes I feel Tyler uses words and ideas that are too complicated. Wouldn't you know that the very next day Tyler scored big points for his side of the argument. The boys and I were driving to get Moose's hair cut and somehow the conversation came around to Moose asking, "Where is God?" I replied that God is everywhere. Then Moose said something else about everywhere that I didn't quite catch, so I simply said, "Yes, God is the only one who is everywhere." Moose added, "That's right. Omnipresent means everywhere. Remember Papa said that?" One order of humble pie, please.