the children

lily is at school everyday, and topher is only gone on mondays, wednesdays, and fridays, which gives topher, mia and i a lot of time together.

for the most part- we eat together. mia sometimes naps, and then topher and i have warm drink time together. that boy is after my own heart. chris and i have been drikning a lot of apple cider lately (it's like starbucks' cause we have the cinnamon dolce syrup. it is perfection in a bottle!) but topher LOVES apple cider too, so during the day i drink with topher, and at night i drink with chris. some might say i have a drinking problem.

 

anyhoo, topher is at a very interesting stage in life. he is usually very affectionate or very aggressive. it's pretty crazy. sometimes i look at him and i think he belongs in a mental institute. but i know he looks at me sometimes and thinks the exact same thing.

 

mia is also at a very interesting stage in life too. she is usually very crazy or just mildly crazy. and it's pretty crazy. watching her 'play' makes my faith grow cause i can basically see angels hovering around her, making sure she doesn't end up with a concussion every day.

it's a miracle.

 

here are mia and topher hanging out together. they are so stinking awesome. looking at pictures of them makes me forget how crazy they are.

love them!

 

then there's my sweet and ridiculous lily.

 

as you may have already guessed- she too is at a very interesting  stage in life as well. she is generous, sweet, and loving, and then the next minute she is a dramatic diva.

example- i lost my wallet the other day at target. i was really freaking out about it because i had A LOT of cash in there (for once!) and the cash wasn't mine (that explains it). so i was frantic about getting it back, and as i was driving back to target lily kept saying to me: "it's ok mom. you can have all the money in my piggy bank!"

i almost started bawling. she is so sweet.

but then the next day at the mall, we were hanging out at the mall with my mom, and i let the kids go on a ride, hang out at the pet store, play in the play area, and my mom gave them money to go on the big carousel. it was a blast! i had mentioned getting a cookie in the food court, but they took the paradise bakery away! so no cookie could be bought nor consumed. as we were leaving, lily said: "why aren't we having any cookies?" i told her the reason why and then she looked at me and said: "why did you even bring us out here? this is the worst day EVER!"

and i almost made her start bawling with my death glare.

it was not sweet.

not sweet at all.

 

oh to be 5!

 

at least she looks sweet:

so. that's life with the watson kids these days. great times. crazy times. great times.

God of the Sabbath

i meant to write this post last week but somehow this last week evaded me just like the week before, and the week before that...

i go to a wonderful non-denominational church here in the east valley, and my brother-in-law Robert, is a pastor there. every couple of months we have baptism weekends and last week was one of them.
i think Robert's job is pretty cool cause he gets to sit around and chat with people and lead them to Christ. not necessarily just in one sitting, but still. it's awesome. it's something i don't think i have ever actually done.
so Robert came over after baptism weekend to pick something up for Chris. he sat down and we chatted with him for a while and then he told us this incredible story from earlier in the day:

i (Robert) was still at church at about 2pm, after everyone else had gone home and people were cleaning the sanctuary after the baptism. then the guy who vaccuums the water out of the pool came and found me and told me he needed me in the sanctuary.
i walked in with him and saw a lady sitting in the front row, bawling. she had wanted to get baptised that morning at one of the services but she couldn't get to church because she had locked her keys in her car. she was a real shy and meek kind of lady and went on to explain that she didn't like big crowds, but had been so convicted about the need to get baptised as a public profession of her faith, and symbol of her willingness to follow and obey Christ. so she was excited and scared to get baptised, but then she missed all the services and felt like she had missed her chance. i tried explaining to her that there would be another baptism service in a few short months and that she would have another chance then, but then i remembered the story from Acts 8, where Philip meets a eunuch and he wants to be baptized as soon as they come across some water.
so i asked the water vaccuming guy how much water was left in the pool and he said not very much. maybe half a foot. robert asked the lady if she would like to get baptized right then and there in the little bit of water and she beamed and said "yes!"
so i got in this little pool with this little lady, the vaccuum guy and his assistant were witnessing the whole thing, and i asked the lady to sit on her bottom with her legs stretched out in front of her. i asked her all the pre-baptism questions, she said yes to them all, and that tiny bit of water was just the exact right amount to cover her little frame and face entirely when she laid flat down.
she emerged from the water a new and joyous creation. she went from being the saddest person i had ever seen in my life to the happiest.
there was much applause and tears of joy- not from me, i have an emotional block, but if i didn't, i would have been crying.

is that not incredible????? even though that's not what the woman had initially envisioned for her baptism- it was exactly how she wanted to get baptised, being the shy little person she is. so beautiful. and i am so glad Robert got to be a part of something so majestic and wonderful, AND i am so glad he shared that story with me, and now i am glad i get to share that story with YOU! i had read earlier that day in Mark chapter 2 about Jesus being God of the Sabbath, and i prayed that i would allow God to be God of the sabbath that day, instead of me stealing the power and meaning of the day away from Him by filling it with busy-ness and junk. God is good. all the time.

moving right along

we moved! again! we are in the process of completing move #6 from the last 4 years. and interestingly enough- we are back in the house where all the magic began. yes, this is the house that chris first bought when he came back from iraq.

 

can you believe he was in iraq? i really had a strong suspicion that he might die there. but he didn't! yeah God!

 

i have had a strange week of reminiscing now that i am back in this old/new house of mine. i loved this house when i first moved in- cause it was OUR first new house as mr. and mrs. watson. it was romantic and lovely. but then the smells and the awkward layout started really bugging me. and then a good number of my friends were moving into brand-spanking new houses that had open layouts and beautiful, big, shiny, new kitchens. and then that green-headed monster named covetousness crept in and made me slowly start loathing my old orange tile and strange turquoise countertops. (coincidentally, the ugly countertops are the same color as my minivan... strange... i just now made that realization.)

 

but then fortunately- we moved! and we moved and we moved and moved and moved. and then i hated moving. so we moved one last time. and now we are home. and i am back to loving it. one thing i have learned through all the moving is that there are always going to be things i love and hate about the place i live in, but it doesn't matter- cause i have it really reall good. even when we lived in the apartment- i still had it really really good. and even when we were nomads living with my two sets of in-laws for three months- i had it REALLY really good (i'm just gonna say it- i'm not a lesbian but i LOVE living with other women!) and now the pantry that i thought was too small, and my closet that i also thought was a bit tiny- i have learned to organize and downsize- so now everything fits and has a place! magic!

 

another thing that has helped me love this place more is by surrounding myself with people who love this place, maybe more than i do. my sweet friends and sister, Lindsay, came over one night to help me paint a few walls before we moved in. it was so awesome! i am so blessed by the friends and family that i have. and my friends and lindsay love this house. cause this is where the magic began- not just for my family- but for my friendships too. this is the house where chris pulled that terrible april fool's joke that made people cry instead of laugh. this is the house where we shaved chris' head for the first time in the middle of my kitchen floor. this is also the house where most of my bridesmaids stayed when they flew in for my wedding. great times with great people. so. blessed.

 

yesterday was ash wednesday, and i contemplated how i was going to 'celebrate' the season, as i drank an offensive amount of coffee. last year i gave up coffee. and this year, instead of giving something up- i am going to add something. cigarettes. just kidding. i'm stealing this from my friend who did it last year- but i am going to intentionally wake up early and spend some quality time with my Lord. so far- so good! 

 

 

this last week, in the midst of packing, and then unpacking boxes, lots of different crazy things have happened. a good friend of my sister's baby passed away in the middle of the night. it's a long story and very very depressing, but also has a silver lining, as only God could put on a tragic situation like that. but it has definitely helped me to have some perspective on the craziness in my life. even when the kids are misbehaving, or our bank account looks pretty empty, or i am tired of unpacking boxes- again- we have our health and the love of our Savior- and compared to people who don't have one or both of those things- you realize that those two things are everything.

 

 

so, with that i leave you with these verses. it's from psalm 34. and psalm 34 has a warm place in my heart, cause i read it often when chris was in iraq, and i was afraid he was going to die. i'm so very glad he didn't die and God has let me spend the last 10 valentines days with this special special special man. Even though this special special man did break up with me two months after our first valentines day together... moving right along! here is that psalm i promised you: 

 

 

"I will bless the Lord at al times; his praises shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its boasts in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad.

Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!

I sought the Lord, and he answered me and devliered me from all my fears.

Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.

This poor man cried, and the LOrd heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and delivers them.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!"

 -Psalm 34: 1-8