Generations

Me with my children, father & grandfather - 4 generations of Visses.
I love these pictures from our last trip up north. Watching my father and grandfather play with my children is so poignant in so many ways. I think often of the blessing I have of being part of a family with generations that have loved and served God. It is a tangible reminder to me that God's promises in the Bible are real and true. As a mother I pray every day that my sons will love God more than anything on this earth and that they will serve Him in every aspect of their lives. A picture like this is a reminder that God will work in the lives of my children in spite of my imperfections as a mother. It is a reminder that my prayers for my children are powerful and effective. Isn't it amazing that we have a God who gives us such great blessings in personal relationships to show us who He is?!

A Good Reminder

We have sung this song a few times in church lately. The words are amazing! The melody sounds like an older hymn. I love songs that remind me of the core of the gospel - my sin being paid for by a God who loves me unconditionally. There are so many days that I need that reminder because I let my sin and imperfection overwhelm me. And I strive every day to remember,
"I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection"

How Deep The Father's Love For Us by Stewart Townsend

Lyrics:

How deep the Father's love for us, How vast beyond all measure That He should give His only Son To make a wretch His treasure How great the pain of searing loss, The Father turns His face away As wounds which mar the chosen One, Bring many sons to glory Behold the Man upon a cross, My sin upon His shoulders Ashamed I hear my mocking voice, Call out among the scoffers It was my sin that held Him there Until it was accomplished His dying breath has brought me life I know that it is finished I will not boast in anything No gifts, no power, no wisdom But I will boast in Jesus Christ His death and resurrection Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer But this I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom (REPEAT)

Fall Fun

Playing hide n seek in the back yard.

Jeremiah is a tricycle riding machine. He loves riding it on our walks.

We live 1 block from the elementary school.
It is a nice place to go ride and play on a Sunday afternoon.

Papa hooked the wagon up to the trike. Fun for all!

On the open road...... :-)

Papa & Nathaniel on the hayride at the Harvest Party.

Mama & Jeremiah on the hayride. He still remembers the hayride from last year and has asked every time we go to Linda's house if we get to go on the hayride again. He was stoked when we said yes this time!

Mama & her boys, enjoying the ride.

Uncle Blake helps Jeremiah roast (and eat) marshmallows & hotdogs.

The weather has turned brisk. The leaves have started changing color, but are not as vibrant as the leaves we saw in Philly. I always enjoy pulling out my long sleeved shirts and sweaters. My favorite time of day these past few weeks has been in the early afternoon, once the boys are napping, I curl up on the couch in the sun with a good book and a hot cup of tea. It is my oasis of quiet in the middle of a busy day. We have been spending a lot of time outside. It is so fun to have 2 boys who love the outdoors and are getting better and better at amusing themselves while I work in the yard (or just sit in a chair and read for a few minutes).
Aaron and I enjoyed 2 days and 2 nights together with the boys off at the grandparents house. We spent time watching movies we rented, sleeping in, watching college football, going shopping (Christmas for the boys....), and just enjoying each others company. It really was a nice treat to have 2 days for ourselves.
Life is good. We cannot complain. God has blessed us richly and we are mindful of His goodness to us.

Jeremiah's new horn

We've been settling back into our normal routine here. With the weather cooling down and leaves falling we have been spending a lot of time outside. The boys are growing so quickly. Jeremiah loves to ride his tricycle around the yard, and the gift of a new horn from oma & opa has added to the fun. Nathaniel also loves being outside and especially enjoys just wandering around finding rocks, sticks, leaves and other treasures to examine (and try to eat!). Aaron is on fall break this week so we are enjoying extra papa time. Both boys will be spending 2 days and 2 nights at the grandparents later this week so that Aaron and I can finally have some time to ourselves. We are really looking forward to that. It will be good to have some quiet time together to communicate and reconnect.
I took some video of Jeremiah riding his trike and honking his horn. I told him to ride toward me and honk. He took that to mean ride on top of me. Silly kid. Enjoy.

Oh My.....

This is a gargantuan post. If you make it through your reward will be in heaven. :-) We are back home and settling into normal life again after a great 2 week visit from my parents and trip to Philly/Collingswood to visit my siblings & grandparents. It was a busy, fun, memory making time. My pictures are scarce for a number of reasons; I was relying on using my dad's pictures but he lost his camera, and when we were up north I was so busy with the kids and so exhausted that it rarely crossed my mind to take pictures. Such is life. So here is my summary.

Probably the best part about having my parents visit is just enjoying everyday life with them. I also especially love to watch them enjoy my children (and vice versa).

The series of pictures below is from the day we drove to Elijay and went apple picking. It was a beautiful day and a perfect activity to do with the boys since they can run around and explore. Really, what is not to love about pumpkins, fresh picked apples, fried fruit pies, and a petting zoo?

Oma & Jeremiah painted pumpkins together. I think it was one of the highlights of the week for Jeremiah. They proudly sit on our front step and Jeremiah exclaims over them every time we are outside.

On Friday night we treated my parents to a real small town event. High school football. It was a hit. The boys especially loved the band and the popcorn.

All the "men" on the front step of the Collingswood house.

Jeremiah & Uncle Ben make funny faces.

Jeremiah really got a kick out of playing the piano with great opa.

The boys hanging out.

One morning Nathaniel woke me up at 5:00am and I decided to put him in the car and head over to Collingswood (hoping he would go back to sleep - no dice). After getting lost in Philly because of an accident blocking my route and finally making it over to NJ I decided that doughnuts were just the thing. Jeremiah was pumped. I think he ate about 3 in the course of the day. My mothering standards dropped drastically during that week.....

Loving the Uncles

Oma and her boy.

My parents flew to and from Philly on the same flight as we did. A life saver let me tell you!
The Philly airport had this awesome playground that kept the boys occupied until time to board. Every airport should have one of these.

I am an idiot. I waited until the end of the trip to take of picture of the grandparents and the boys. So this was the best we got. Oh well.....

Jeremiah sat with Opa in the airplane. This picture cracks me up.

Nathaniel, Oma and I sat up front in 1st class. We needed the room. Nathaniel was a wiggle worm. Thank goodness it was a short flight.

Jeremiah ran straight to papa and Nathaniel wanted immediately out of his stroller and to be held by him (probably the first time in a week he volunteered to go to anyone but me). Even though we had a great time we were all happy to be home and in our own beds.

in Philly

We arrived in Philadelphia on Saturday after a fun day of flight. The boys are good travelers. We are enjoying time with my siblings, parents and grandparents. Jeremiah is enjoying lots of extra attention, walks in the park, stickers, and fun. Nathaniel is not really adjusting to well. Probably a combination of lower molars coming in, traveling daily between the house in Collingswood and where we sleep in Philly, and the normal separation anxiety phase. He has been very whiny, clingy, and doesn't sleep well. All of which are not really in character for him.
It is such a blessing to be here and able to spend good time with the family. I especially love having Ben & Ramona on this side of the ocean where visits and contact are much easier.

Preparations

My parents arrived safely in Atlanta on Friday and drove down to visit my grandparents in Florida. They are driving up to our house today and will arrive early evening. This visit has kind of snuck up on me, as have many things recently, and so over the weekend we were in a controlled frenzy of cleaning and continued organizing. I have a long list of things to do today, but am not feeling stressed because I know that my parents are coming to visit us, not inspect the cleanliness of our house or the state of our closets. So this morning I decided to prioritize. I think that I can ignore the few piles of things in the hallway awaiting their trip to the attic and focus on cleaning the bathroom, getting groceries, and making sure the guestroom (and office) is ready for visitors.
This morning the boys had a blast jumping around on the air mattras while I went about cleaning. Jeremiah has been counting down the days to opa & oma's arrival and has all kinds of plans for them ("I need to show them how I can ride my trike-cycle backwards!"). We can't wait for them to get here!

little gymnast

People laugh at me when I say that we may need to consider gymnastics in Nathaniel's future. But seriously, if he keeps doing stuff like this I am going to channel all that monkey climbing, jumping, fearless, incredible balancing energy into positive activities. And have I mentioned that he loves to hang upside down?
I snapped these yesterday. I put down the camera to grab him when he started walking along the top of the bookshelf. I wasn't afraid he was going to fall (he has a terrific sense of balance), I just didn't want to encourage the activity. I didn't take the picture of him balancing on top of the toilet tank! Yep, perched on the top of the toilet tank happily attempting to get to the water faucet in the sink.

Little surprises

Sometimes when I start to download pictures from my camera I find little surprise pictures that Aaron took while he is with the boys and I am at work. I like finding these little glimpses of the things that are happening while I am gone.
Today we went for a basic weigh and measure check up. Jeremiah is 34lb 6oz (1 lb gain since April) and 38 1/2in. tall (1in. gain). Nathaniel is 20lb 10 oz and 30in tall. That is average height (50th percentile) and low weight (10th percentile). His iron is also still low. I am not really worried about it, but it is good to know. Also good to know that he likes meat so much because he is going to start getting a lot more of it to get his iron back up!

Nathaniel in the puzzle drawer.
below: Nathaniel stuck in the bottom basket of the stroller.

A boy and a truck. Beautiful.

Bath time fun.