I just had to take this picture of Madeline's hair after her bath today...see, she does have hair!!
This is our house after just two days of snow. Let me remind you, we had no snow on the ground (pretty much) before this "Winter Storm Danielle" hit. I think they're saying we got anywhere from 10-12 inches, and it is still snowing!! You know it's bad when they cancel church and school around here!

And here is some more of "Maggie's Funny Thoughts" for today:

Yesterday, in our family devotions we were talking about how it is wrong to take the Lord's name in vain. (We have been going through this book called "Right Choices", and that was the topic for yesterday.) We were also talking about how we don't want the girls to say "Gosh" either, and it came up that on one of the girls' favorite cartoons (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), Mickey Mouse says "Gosh" sometimes. Well, Rob told the girls that maybe we shouldn't watch that cartoon anymore if they were saying words that we didn't think were right. Maggie was pretty disturbed that she might not be able to watch this show, and so the conversation continued as Rob was tucking her in bed that night.

Rob said, "Maggie, let's pray and ask Jesus to help us make a right choice about this."

Maggie said, "Why does Mickey say that if it is wrong?"

Rob said, "Maybe Mickey isn't saved." (He couldn't think of what else to say.)

Maggie thought about this for a minute, and said, "Well, maybe Minnie is saved, and she can tell Mickey about Jesus. Let's talk to Minnie and Mickey about this when we go to Disney World."

That seemed to satisfy her for the time being, and she went peacefully to sleep.

Every time Maggie gets out of the bathtub, she wants to "be like Mommy." This means wearing my bathrobe and putting her hair up in a towel.

Saturday night was our church's annual Valentine's Banquet. This year, we had it at the nearby coffee shop, Koinania Cafe. It was so nice. They had it decorated beautifully, and the food was excellent - chicken marsala, salad and cheesecake. The teens from the youth group did the whole thing, and they did a great job! Pastor & Mrs. Kimbrough...we are soooo thankful for them!!
Our good friends, Matt & Jennifer Hotchkins, sat with us at the banquet. Did you find a little gift we left you at your house yet, you two?!

I am very thankful for Jennifer's friendship. We try to get together pretty often to get some sanity to our children-filled days!! She is such an encourager!

Today, my girls were in their rooms playing and listening to a Patch the Pirate CD, when they suddenly came running out asking for their Bibles. I gave them to them, and asked why they wanted them. Maggie said, "I need to have some quiet time alone with God." She got that from a song on that CD. This was conviction #1, since I had not yet had my quiet time with the Lord yet today. After looking through her Bible, and sounding out a few words, such as God, she came to me and asked me to read it to her. I was in the middle of vaccuuming the living room, and my first thought was, "Can't you see I'm busy vaccuuming right now?" Right away, conviction #2 struck my heart. My daughter is asking me to read her God's Word, and I am too busy?! We sat down and read some in John...not only was she listening, but asking me to explain what verses meant. Conviction #3: How many times do I read, not taking time to think about the meaning of every phrase? I am so thankful that God gave me these two little lives, however, I think that sometimes, they teach me far more than I am able to teach them.

Today, on Valentine's Day, I decided to use this blog to share with you all how much Rob means to me. He is the most loving and thoughtful husband ever!! Today, for Valentine's Day, he left these cards hidden all over the house in places that I would go to throughout the day. Each location had a significance to the things he stated that he loved about me in each card. It was so sweet and thoughtful!!! I love my man so much!

1. He loves God and is always trying to grow closer to Him.

2. He loves me for who I am, and not for what I do for him.

3. He is always willing to work on things in our relationship - always fine tuning things to make our marriage better.

4. He makes his time with the girls a priority on his list...he always takes time to discipline them consistently, have tickle wars with them, and teach them about God's Word.

5. He is my best friend...he likes to snuggle with me and watch Oprah (sorry babe!), he likes to go shopping with me, and he likes to do crossword puzzles with me. What could be better than that?

6. He always makes time to give to others....he is one of the most giving people I know (thanks Dad F. for being such an incredible example of this). He is always seeing needs that people have, and trying to help them.

7. He is wise with our family finances...thank goodness, since I like to shop (if it is on sale, I think that means we should get it!).

8. He has made being involved with our church body a priority for our family. Watching him lead the Children's Ministries at Grace makes me so proud.

9. He understands all my quirky ways (okay, maybe most of them), and he even thinks I am beautiful without my makeup.

10. He is very spontaneous...he will leave notes for me around the house, and will come home and surprise me at nap time:).

Maggie with Daddy before Funny Time
Maggie with "camp buddies," Chandler and Chayton Gearhart.



Tonight Maggie and I had a special "date" to go watch Rob in the Snow Camp Funny Time. Maggie loves watching her very funny daddy...tonight was no different. She told me after, "Daddy was much funnier than the other guy [in the skit]." Afterwards, we went to the special
Snow Camp themed dinner. This year, the theme was the "Northland Bread Company," and they had soup and soup bowls, and a coffee bar. We had a good time together, and Maggie got some quality time with Daddy.

Maggie surprised me today by showing me the "project" she had been privately working on in the living room....SPELLING! I knew that she could read and spell words by sounding them out, but this was the first time that she has done it on her own - without my promptings. We have been starting (key word) to go through the book, "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons," and she really likes doing that. Another resource that has been incredible for teaching her her letter sounds are the LeapFrog videos, "Letter Factory" and "Talking Words Factory." If you don't have these, you need to pick them up at Walmart. They have them in the Leapfrog aisle for $10.00 or less.

She has also been asking a lot more questions about salvation. Last night she asked me and Rob when we got saved. We shared with her what Jesus had done in our hearts, and after that, Rob asked her when she got saved. I kind of expected her to make up a time, but she said, "I'm not saved yet." Very exciting, but sobering as well! What a responsibility we have as parents to share with our children the Good News that Jesus can save them from the power of their sin. Right now she is pretty hung up on the fact that if she gets saved she will go to heaven, and she doesn't want to go there. I just ordered some books from Moody Press - "Who is God?" "Who is Jesus?" "What Happens When We Die?", "Why Do I Do Bad Things?", Etc. I am hoping these will help her understand some of these concepts where our feeble words have not adequately done that yet.

I just want to praise the Lord that despite our foolishness and unfaithfulness as parents, He still sees fit to work in our children's hearts! What an awesome God we serve. He loves them so much more than we could ever love them, and He wants to have their hearts.