Big One Year Old

Yesterday at 3:39pm Tyler turned 1. We planned to blog last night about it, but lost all power in our house for most of the night. I cannot believe he is one already. Where has the time gone? Why do they grow up so fast? As much as I love it when they can talk to you, there is just something awesome about a baby. Of course it seems even more special this time since we know this is the last one.

He got to eat some cake (see previous post) that papa brought over. He started out picking little pieces off of it and then finally really dug in and stuck the whole piece in his mouth. For some reason our kids have no problems eating anything with sugar in it. Maybe I need to try vegetables with sugar on top. He also took his first forward step on the kitchen table after eating his cake. I know I know bad mom, who lets their kid play on the kitchen table anyways.

We love you Tyler Ryan! May you grow up to be a man chasing after God with all your heart.

Look Ma, Messy Hands

Yesterday was Tyler's "official" first birthday (party to be held at a later date...) and so some family stopped by to wish him a happy birthday. By the way, he also ate cake - lots of cake and he loved every minute of it.

He certainly won't eat vegetables like that...

Also, the voices you hear in the background are Papa and Grandma Marques cheering him on to victory.

Taking a Longer Stand

Taking a Stand

The Tyler Shuffle

PS

It's strange to hear Tammy talking about the end of time - just isn't something she had a desire to discuss or even "worry" about until recently. Even more strange since my passion for the topic has cooled over the past few years for a variety of reasons.

However, I'm definitely on the same page. Things are happening with alarming frequency and severity. Here's the link to a website that summarizes these changes well.

Signs of the Appearing

The End

So this has been a crazy week and my mind has been thinking about a lot of different things, but one of the major things my mind has been camped out on is death. Now you may say boy that is something I try really hard to not think about and most of the time I do the same. I truly enjoy my life on this earth and though I know that eternity will be so much better it is just hard to wrap your mind around that concept sometimes. Since I do enjoy my life on earth, death is just not something I thought much about until it was almost forced on me. It wasn't until my mom died that I had a first hand experience with what death can really do and I found myself after that experience thinking when will the end come, I am ready for Jesus to return any day now. Of course this brought a huge smile to my husband's face, for those of you who don't know Daryl believes that our generation will be here when the end comes and he cannot wait to be a part of that.

It seems like since her death there have been so many things other things happening in this world and people are dying left and right. Maybe my eyes are just more open to it now. It seems that everytime you turn the TV on something big is happening and people are dying. Then it hits close to home again, our best friends The Callenders lose Adam's sister Ellen to cancer. Then a staff member of our church, Doug Coney, dies of a sudden heart attack and leaves behind a wife and 2 kids. So I find my mind returning to death again and with that end times enter in my mind.

Is the end in sight? Are we living in the end days? Will I see and be a part of the last days of this earth? I never thought we would see the end in my lifetime, but now I think we may. Too many huge things are happening these days, it seems as if God is starting to prepare us. Daryl's parents were over today and they are going to a seminar about the end time and the speaker spoke of there being birthing pains before the end comes. So are we in birthing pains right now? It sure seems that way to me. So then my mind wanders to am I ready? Have I done all God has called me to do? I know I have more preparations to make, what about you. Are you ready? Have you done all God has called you to do?

Child Dedication

On Thursday September 15, 2005 we along with some of our great friends participated in child dedication at Granger Community Church. We had the opportunity with many other families in the church to vow to raise Tyler in a home where God is honored and praised and worshiped. Daryl and I had the privilege of having Mark and Sheila Beeson (our senior pastor and his wife) pray over Tyler as we dedicated him to God and the church. All of our family and friends were there supporting us and also vowing to help us raise Tyler to love God.

It was so awesome watching so many parents in the church dedicating their children to the Lord and vowing to do whatever it takes to make sure they know and love our Lord. In this fallen, broken world this is one thing that gives me hope. Hope that all of these children and more will follow Jesus with wild passion and change this world for the better.

We also dedicated Allison and Rachel after they were born and I am so proud to be part of a church that loves and cherishes kids the way that Granger Community Church does, there is truly no other church I would rather be raising my kids in.
Allison, Rachel and Tyler our prayer for you is that you will love Jesus with all your heart, soul and mind and that you will follow Him all the days of your lives no matter what life throws at you. We promise, as your parents , to teach you the Truth and to live as God has asked us to and to be the parents God has asked us to be. We love you all more than you will ever know.

Preschool Has Begun

Last week was back to school week for the girls. Allison started pre-K at Harris Prairie last week. She was so excited to go and was even more pumped when she saw her new room. I have to admit the room is really nice and big. She even had some of the same kids that were in her class last year.

Rachel also started preschool last week. This is her first year and she is also at Harris Prairie in the 3/4's class with Mrs. Lewis. Allison also had Mrs. Lewis her first year and she loved her, as I'm sure Rachel will too. Rachel was very excited and had no issues going into school on her own. I cannot believe she is big enough for preschool, where do the years go?

I really think preschool is a great experience for them and it is fun to watch them learn and grow throughout the year, even if that means that I am driving to preschool everyday.

Give Me Orajel or Give Me Death!!!

So Tyler is a really great kid, but you know that stage they go through when the teeth are cutting through and their little world seems to turn upside down - well, I just had to document it for posterity...

Poor guy is really in pain though - maybe I should stop filming and just pick him up...

I did it, I did it, I really really did it

As you probably read in the post from yesterday we spent part of the weekend at the lake. It was kind of a sad weekend, for it will probably be the last weekend we spend at the lake till next summer. I just love being there, it is so relaxing, peaceful and inspiring to me. I spent most of my growing up years there every weekend during the summer. I spent as much time as possible on the lake either tubing, skiing, or knee boarding. Before kids I was working on slaloming. I just could never get up on one ski. I spent many hours trying but it just never happened, so I just learned to drop one and then I was fine.
Well then kids came and I spent way too many summers pregnant and unable to do anything behind the boat. It has probably been 5 years since I have skied at all. I just don't seem to have the same energy that I did 5 years ago, yes I know I am getting old, and this fear creeps in that I may not be able to do it anymore. Well this weekend I just had to try. The water looked okay, not too rough, and I knew if I did not try this weekend I would be going on year 6 without skiing. So believe it or not, I got in the somewhat cold water, nervous as all get out. I got my skis on, had rope in hand and gave the go ahead. Before I knew what was happening I was up. Could it really be, I did not forget? I have to admit I was pretty pumped until about half way around the lake. It was at this point that I started to get really tired. I thought about just letting go of the rope, but no I was determined to make it all the way around the lake. About three quarters of the way around I am really sucking air and all I am thinking is "you can do it, you are almost there". I spent the rest of the way telling myself this, but I made it.
I have to admit it felt really good to know that I can still do it. Now maybe the next time I will have the energy to actually go out of the wake!

Say Cheese

We stayed down at the lake this weekend (Sunday and Monday). At some point Ryan must have shanghaied our camera - which actually worked out well since we never seem to get many pictures of him. This one-hander-self-portrait turned out pretty well...

Ryan is doing some great stuff down in Indianapolis at the State House (working with and for the Hispanic population in Indiana) and is set to go somewhere in Latin America next year with the Peace Corps. We wish him all the best and love getting to spend time with him at the lake.

I Scream, You Scream, The Girls...

The girls love ice cream just like we all do, so when their uncle (see next post) decided to spoil them with a Blizzard from DQ they were ready and willing. The thing that scared me was some of the looks they gave while eating it. See if you can find Allison's look that says, "There's nothing more important in the world to me than ice cream..."

Swapping Spit

With the title above you might expect to see a guy kissing a girl or something like that. But this is a little more hilarious than that. It's one of those "right place at the right time with camera in hand" times. Tyler and Carter just got up from naps and decided to share binkies. We'll see if they stay this close in the future...

Is It Really Worth the Pain?

This is a picture of garage sale preparation in progress. You're looking into our "already too small to be helpful" garage. Tammy is hard at work and I'm standing here with the camera in my hand. Needless to say that's about how helpful I've been - possibly because I don't share the same gusto for the project. I never grew up doing garage sales - I'm the type that prefers junking stuff (or giving it to charity) to avoid the hassle of actually interacting with complete strangers for hours on end just to ditch the stuff clogging the catacombs of our home.

However, Tammy really impresses me when she starts doing stuff like this. She gets so focused and won't let little setbacks keep things from going forward. Somehow she's found enough stuff to make this the biggest garage sale in history!

But my question remains the same: Is it really worth the pain? I guess we'll see...