Letting go of expectations....

Today was just one of those days.  A day where everything seemed like an uphill battle. 

It started out seemingly normal, except for some mild crankiness from our oldest.  Crankiness turned into whining (Oh! How I deplore whining!).  Whining into crying.  Crying into rudeness, talking back, and a general mean-spirit.  This resulted in Josiah spending much of the morning sitting in the corner, sulking, and waiting for his heart to change.  All this before Daddy whisked out the door for a full day of meetings. 

Alas, the heart did change, though the sulkiness somehow remained.  Expectation #1:  A true heart change results in a happy, easy to care for child.  WRONG!  While Josiah did repent for his bad attitude, his sulkiness remained.  Thankfully, in this moment during the day, I did indeed listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.  I asked.  I dug.  I nudged.  And I finally uncovered what his little spirit was wrestling with.  He missed his Grandma & Granddaddy from North Carolina.  He had to say goodbye to them on Sunday as we traveled back to NY.  And to him, saying goodbye meant "I'll never see you again." 

Its moments like this today where God is teaching me a valuable lesson.  My life isn't about my agenda.  It isn't about my expectations.  It isn't really about me at all.  But its about learning to live sacrificially.  Learning to love sacrificially.  Did I have other plans for this morning?  YOU BET!  Did I really want to deal with a difficult child most of the day?  DEFINITELY NOT!  Do I like being inconvenienced?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!  But it's not about me.  It's not about living for myself, but demonstrating God's love to my children.  So here's to letting go of my own expectations.  Letting go of my own ideas on how the day should go (which can often be unrealistic).  Letting go of what I think is the necessary agenda, and letting God's agenda play out instead. 

Abby, Jojo, and Granddaddy

Abby & Grandma

 

Jojo and his two cousins, Shaina & Lea

So long October, hello November

Wow, has it really been over a month since we last posted?  Much has happened in that short period of time.  October always proves to be one of the busiest months of the year for us.  Two birthdays in our immediate family (Josiah turned 4, Bryan turned 36), 3 birthdays in our extended family (Mama Scott, Lisha-Bryan's sister, and Joshua-our nephew), 5 doctor appointments scheduled for just this month for our family, and then of course, Hurricane Sandy. 

This has by far been one of the most memorable Octobers for us in years--and that is probably the case for most in the Northeast.  Seeing the devastation from Hurricane Sandy has been heartbreaking.  We've seen Josiah even respond to the weight of this storm & its aftermath.  And we are so thankful that in the midst of it all, God is our hope forever and always; He is the rock that makes all our footings firm!

October also represents a milestone for me in that my first baby..... really isn't a baby anymore.  Josiah IS officially, officially a big boy.  Not only is his independence growing day by day, but in 10 months he will begin kindergarten.  Wow.  Makes me treasure my days at home with him all the more.

Well, finally our birthday post to our sweet son Josiah!  Josiah, you continue to amaze us everyday with your generous heart, your fierce competitive spirit, and your love for games, knowledge, and fun.  Happy birthday (well, on October 11th) to our baby boy!

As part of his birthday celebration, Josiah and I went to Eleni's Bakery--a nut-free bakery in NYC!  Josiah LOVED these fancy cookies from the Upper East Side.  Delish!

  

One of our close college friends spent the day with us on Josiah's birthday!  He loved all the extra attention from Christine--and the awesome dinosaurs! We love you Christine!

 And of course, Grandma Kim wanted to make sure we got Abby her own gift as well--a baby doll stroller! (and its a good thing we did!  As we found out on Bryan's birthday, Abigail threw a fierce fit when she was not allowed to open Bryan's gift!)

 Josiah excited to receive his lego sets from Mommy & Daddy.

 

 Big boy put together his ambulance with very little help from me! Way to go!

 Preparing for Josiah's birthday party a couple of days later.

 Our sweet guy with his German Chocolate birthday cake! YUM!

His birthday buddies--Aiden & Samuel.

Thanks to all our family and friends for making Josiah feel so loved & blessed during his birthday week!

Well, so long for now...and happy election day!

Some recent videos of Abby

Here are some recent videos of Abby.  It seems like there is always more to video when your kids are younger versus older--sorry Jo!  I've been meaning to upload these since last month--you know how that goes.  Well, better late than never!

Here's one of Abby singing.  She LOVES to sing!  She has even begun singing along with the worship songs we play in the car.

Here she was last month singing her ABCs. 

 

 Here's a cute one of her jumping--attempting too that is!  She can actually get both feet off the ground now!

 

And lastly, Abby talking.  Sorry to bore all you non-family members out there with so many videos of our kids! =)

My ears are hurting!

Do any of you have a screamer?  If you do, I know you'll sympathize with us.  We are PRAYING TO GOD that this is just a new phase for Abigail.  Can you hear the desperation in my writing voice???

Yes, you may remember from previous posts that Abigail has already asserted herself as a screamer.  And we were managing.  Correcting, telling her no, redirecting, time-outs, you name it!  Was it annoying?  Yes.  But did we feel like we had it at least in a manageable state?  Yes.

Ask us these questions now.  Is it manageable?  NO! NO! NO!  Abby has recently amplified her screaming.  And mind you, she was ALREADY loud.  Now, she screams so loud that my ears ring for hours afterwards and I swear they almost started to bleed once.  (Okay, the bleeding part is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the gist).  And you know what, it really is starting to DRIVE ME NUTS!  Even calm and patient Bryan is starting to become unnerved by her blood-curdling, ear-piercing, screaming!

No condemning or correcting advice needed.  But, if you are ever with us and you hear a horrid sound coming from our youngest child--rest assured--we are just as irritated about it as you! 

Thankfully, despite all the screaming and pounding headaches I end up with, Abigail Joy is living up to her name--she truly is such a joyful little girl!  We love her to pieces--but seriously wish she would stop screaming.

What's not to love here?

Following in Daddy's footsteps

Don't little girls usually like following in their mommies' footsteps?  Well, probably not all.  I was definitely a Daddy's little girl myself.  So I guess its not surprising that Abby LOVES her daddy's shoes & slippers.

 Here, she had just learned to put them on correctly.  Quite a "feet" for the little one! haha! I crack myself up.

 Here, she found Daddy's snow boats tucked away in a cubbyhole.  They are heavy and clunky, but that didn't stop her from getting them on her feet and walking around with them! Typical of Abby, when I asked her to put them back, she picked up both shoes, started running, and threw them on the sofa at the other end of our apartment.  What a little stinker!

The Joy of Siblings

Now that Abigail is getting older, it has truly been a joy to see Josiah and Abigail interact.  They actually enjoy playing with one another for at least some part of the day (other parts of the day are filled with screams, tears, grabbing, throwing toys, and yells of "NO!"--and the occasional full force pushing/hitting).  We thought we'd share some highlight moments--and yes, these are "highlights".  Don't think that life with siblings is always so peachy! ha!

Greatest toy EVER.  The cardboard BOX.  This has probably been the most played with "toy" all summer (even though I've tried throwing it out almost every week). 

 

Playing in the box together.

"Hi!  I'm Dr. Scott.  Abigail, can you open your mouth for me?  Say AHHH!"

"Okay.  Hold still.  I'm going to use my otoscope to look in your ear."  And Abby loved every moment of being Josiah's patient!!

Watching TV together in the morning.  Abby always run to sit next to her brother on the sofa.

Josiah let Abby play with his precious foosball table! 

 

And here's Abby copying her older brother.  He had been telling his version of "knock knock" jokes--and she was copying his every word and move!

Over the river and through the woods....

It's clearly been a long time since our last post.  We are already half-way through summer, and the new school year is fast approaching.  How have we spent our summer?  Busy, as usual.  But this year has also been, surprisingly, more relaxing than most.  Maybe we've just learned by now how to actually take advantage of time to rest and take a some-what "break" from the ministry. 

We recently returned from visiting Grandma & Granddaddy Scott in North Carolina.  Our kids had a BLAST!  Josiah was in fact, quite distraught over leaving.  Poor little guy.  The kids adored Grandma & Granddaddy's new dogs--especially Josiah, who took every opportunity he could to boss those two puppies around (which gave Abby a nice respite from her, at times, overly-bossy brother).  Highlights from this trip include Bryan getting to officiate the wedding of his brother, Kevin, time in the inflatable pool (some perks of suburban life), and of course, just spending ample amounts of quality time with Grandma & Granddaddy. 

Here are the kids playing in our $8.00 inflatable pool from Wal-Mart.

More pictures of our time in NC.  Josiah and Daddy having fun with cups!

 Abby being silly.  She is turning into quite the clown--always trying to get a laugh.

Here is Abby playing with her Granddaddy!

And lastly, Bryan officiating the wedding of his older brother Kevin!  Congrats to Kevin & Toni!

The thinking of little minds

Any parent of a preschooler will tell you how amazed they are by what their child comes up with or says.  It really is amazing to witness the development of a little soul--to see them formulate their own opinions and to test hypotheses, to see them question why the world works.  I am often in awe of how the Lord designed our children to receive such an imprint from parents on how they view the world.  What an awesome (and sometimes terrifying) responsibility.

I have had many such occasions to see Josiah's little mind work, listening to Josiah explain the world through his eyes.  Sometimes, the pictures he paints are imbalanced, but other times we are just captivated by the sweetness and tenderness of his heart.

As I always like to keep things real, I will start with the imbalanced side.  Josiah, as of late, acts as if he knows everything (my apologies in advance for any adult out there he may have corrected or will correct in the near future!!)  Even when we remind him that he doesn't know everything (hey, we need to instill humility in this kid!!), he says, with most earnestness.... "but mom, I do know some things.  Like cars, balls, chairs....." and it just goes on and on.  He is most assuredly confident.  Competition is also his driving force.  Out of nowhere, he makes comments like

                 "Mom, I'm faster than you and Abigail." 
                 "Mom, I have more shirts than person X." 
                 Or "Mom, I snap louder than ALL my friends." 

My favorite is when he makes comments to his Daddy in a similar fashion "Daddy, I'm more fast than you".  Bryan's response:  "No you aren't" (quite matter-of-factly, then Bryan walks away--and for those of you who know Bryan well, you'll definitely appreciate that!).  Did I mention that Bryan is also driven by competition?

He also has begun pointing out things in others.  Like the time we were walking in our neighborhood, and a local homeless guy walked by.  At the top of his lungs, Josiah stated "EEEWWWW!!!  WHAT'S THAT SMELL??????"  Or when we have guests over, Josiah is quick to notice when they aren't giving him their full attention.  "MOM, how come they aren't listening to me?" (Said in front of said guests). 

We've also been bumping up against Josiah's strong internal sense of JUSTICE.  And boy have we been having battles.  If Josiah hears frustration in our voice or if we raise our voice too much when admonishing him, the crusader in him ignites.  Its as if Josiah turns into a revolutionary, fighting for the rights of all the 3-year-olds in the world.  His response "NO MOMMY.  NO. NO. NO.  STOP!" (In a 'how dare you speak to me in that tone' voice).  Or when Abigail takes a toy from him--what is his initial response?  An eye for an eye, of course!!  That's JUSTICE after all isn't it? 

Even though we see the areas of struggle and refinement still needed, we also see how God has uniquely crafted this little guy.  It's clear that Josiah has a tender heart for those less fortunate.  He is constantly referencing how other boys and girls may not have as many toys as him, and how he is thankful for what he has.  He is also extremely empathetic, and will often be the first to offer comfort in our family when someone is sad.  We really believe that his strong sense of justice will come into play years down the road--as Josiah fights some horrendous societal ill.  And even his competitive spirit!  Having seen what an asset that is in Bryan and what an amazing strength, we are so thankful that the Lord has instilled in Josiah such an internal drive to push harder, push farther, and to never give up. 

Josiah's playdoh masterpiece.  Look carefully, and you'll notice how detail-oriented this kid is! Yes, the balls are in straight lines and color-coded.  Makes a Mama proud! =)



















This was my first real attempt to french braid Abby's hair.  And even though she is in a chair, she constantly moves her head back and forth!


And here are some quick favorites.  Abby being silly (which she is becoming more and more every day--we are LOVING this!), and the last one of Jo and Abby before Randy & Selene's wedding.

Why are we even talking about this now?

I've decided to dedicate this blog post to topics my three year old insists on talking about.  And often non-stop.  And they are the types of topics you think you won't have to deal with until their teenage years! 

Topic 1: Marriage

That's right.  At least a couple of times a week, Josiah asks, "Mommy, are you married to Daddy?".  "Yes sweetie, I am". 

His response, "but I don't have anyone to marry.  Mommy, who will I marry?" 

To try and placate his insatiable curiosity, I say, "Well, when you get old enough, you'll find a nice woman who loves Jesus and who loves you."  Thinking to myself, this answer really should suffice.

But no, Josiah quips back.  "But how will I find a woman?  Will you help me Mommy?"

So this conversation goes on and on.  I remind him again that he is much too old to even begin worrying about such a topic, but he does not relent.  One day, he got so excited (that type of excited where a light bulb goes off in your head!) and he exclaimed, "I KNOW!!!!  I can marry Abigail!".  Ummm.... no. 

Topic 2: Driving

While returning home from church one Sunday afternoon, I pointed out a local car dealership to show Josiah some sports cars.  The WHOLE way home, he kept insisting that he could and should be allowed to drive said sports car.  After explaining the procedure of driving (1. Turning 16, 2. Obtaining a driver's license, 3. Paying for car insurance), Josiah then proceeded to tell me that "actually, three year olds CAN drive sports cars."

Silly me, thinking that the conversation ended there.  However, the rest of the day, Josiah continued to ask when he would be 16, when he could drive a sports car, how he could get a sports car, and why he couldn't have a sports car for his first car.  Shouldn't we be having this conversation when he's 14? 


And of course, it wouldn't be a true blog post without some pics and videos of the kids--completely unrelated to the above, but still worth it.

One of my favorite shots of Abby

Sweet Jo holding Abby at 13 months! Look at those chubby cheeks.

And since we always take hordes of videos, but never upload them.... here are 3 new ones!

We'd like you to meet Mr. Monkey.  Mr. Monkey is abby's lovie.

Anybody who knows us well, knows that Chuck E Cheese is a normal part of our lives (especially Jojo's and Bryan's!!!).  And you can tell by this video that Abigail is definitely a Scott. 

See! Abby loves this place just as much as Jojo! 

Fun in the midst of chaos

Well, we've had a dearth of posts as of late.  What can we say?  Life with 2 kids is downright crazy at times (again, how do our friends with more than 2 do it? you are our heroes!).  A good portion of March we spent traveling--either the entire family or Bryan with work.  And as ridiculous as it seems, it literally feels like it took us a month to recover and be somewhat rested (as rested as any parents with multiple children under the age of 5 could ever feel!).  And just as things seemed like they were normalizing, our eldest had a week that will go down in the record books.  There was some serious testing of boundaries--throwing, screaming, tantrums, and our all time favorite: taking his spoon for breakfast and hitting Abigail in the head (deliberately, mind you) not just once, but 3 times because "she was screaming too loud".  And did I forget to tell you that Josiah has quite an arm?  He went at her full force.  Thankfully, Abigail (and we) have survived.  And as crazy as things get, as exhausted as we feel, we still manage to have fun as a family.

So we wanted to dedicate this post to our sweet Jojo!  Though these past couple of weeks were emotionally draining and trying, Josiah still continues to amaze us and make us so proud as parents, not just for what he does, but who he is becoming.  We have been amazed by the generosity in his heart, as he continues to ask about the welfare of those homeless men we passed outside of church.  How he is learning to share with his sister, and how he tells her almost daily how much he loves her.  And when he notices her dolled up in a dress and tells her "ab-i-gail, you look so beautiful today. like a princess". 

So here are some fun videos of our sweet Josiah.  (And is there a future in baseball for this little guy??)

Abby & the Irish

We are proud to report that we think we've discovered the calling of our youngest--Irish dancing .  I know you must be thinking--what?  Becca, she's only a 1-year old.  But I think it's clear that the Irish blood from Grandma Kim is expressing itself.  Take a look and see for yourself (the true Irish dancing emerges in the 2nd half of the video)!  All kidding aside, we just thought abby's new dance moves were too funny not to post.

First birthday

It's hard to believe, but our Abigail celebrated her 1st birthday back on March 9.  We were fortunate to be able to spend her birthday with my side of the family in Minnesota (where my eldest sister & her family live).  Abigail thoroughly enjoyed opening her presents (what kid doesn't like gifts, right?).  She very much disliked her birthday hat--as it was pulled off in a matter of seconds.  And the cake?  Well, she at first was quite adverse to it (as you'll see below), but after much cajoling, I eventually convinced her to at least open her mouth to try it! 

Happy birthday to our sweet Abby-cadabby!  We are so enjoying every facet of who you are, and we thank God for your beautiful life!  Mommy & Daddy love you!

Our birthday girl

saying "cheese" for the camera 

"I don't know about this mom" 

"You eat it.  I don't want that cupcake!"

"NOOOOO!!!"

 

"Ewwww"

"Okay, maybe sugar isn't so bad afterall!" 

 "hihi"