Salvation Has Come

On December 23rd, the Sunday before Christmas, our church had a time set aside for families to come in the evening  for a candle light communion.  As we were getting ready to go to church, I told Rocco that we wouldn't be having a regular service and that it wouldn't last as long tonight because we were going to have the Lord's Supper.  I also told him that he would not partake of it because he didn't understand what it fully meant to be saved.  He informed me otherwise.  

As we made our way to the bathroom to finish getting ready he let me know that he did understand what it meant.  

"You have to ask Jesus into your heart," he told me.  He continued to let me know that he had already prayed that prayer to ask Jesus to save him.  He said one Wednesday night he prayed by himself before he went to sleep.  He said that he had asked Jesus to forgive his sins.  Could this be?  I was beside myself!  I continued to ask him questions.  Yes, he believed that Jesus had died for our sins. And he knew what sins were and that he was in need of salvation.   Yes, he believed that Jesus arose again, and He certainly is the Son of God.  And he even told me that when those trumpets sound that he was going!

Ever since he was a baby, Jason and I have prayed for his salvation.  I have prayed and asked God so many times to speak to Rocco's heart at the right time and place.  Being so young and tenderhearted like he is, I wanted him to have a true salvation.  Anyone can repeat a prayer, and I knew Rocco wanted to go to heaven.  Who wouldn't?  But with him learning so much about Jesus in Sunday School, Children's Church, Wednesday night's Team Kid, and in the car through a lot of our talks, I knew he was beginning to understand what salvation was.  A few months ago he even told me with much urgency, "We've got to find out if I'm saved!"  I just kept putting it off because I didn't want to force him into anything.   I wanted to be sure he understood what he was doing and how important this decision to follow Christ was.  It is a life changing decision.  

And so I told him that when we got to church we would talk to his daddy.  After he assured me that he had prayed to accept Jesus, he asked, "So does this mean I can have the crackers and juice?"  

When we got to church, it was near the end of the drop in times.  After the Callan family finished their communion, I had Jason talk to Rocco about his salvation.  

Once Jason talked to him, he saw that  Rocco was sincere in his prayer to trust Jesus as his Savior and seek him for forgiveness of his sins.  Seeing he had accepted Jesus, he was ready for his first Lord's Supper.  Rocco knew that the cracker represented the broken body of Jesus and the juice stood for his blood.  He also knew that the Last Supper was when Jesus ate with his disciples one last time before he was nailed on the cross.  

 Here's our family after we took the Lord's Supper.

He's such a good listener.  The other day he told me, "Mommy, I'm glad we don't live in the Old Testament. We would have to kill animals."  He knows Jesus is our sacrifice, and He knows He is the Son of God who can save...even a six year old.  

What an awesome God we serve and what a Christmas this has been already!  Thank you Jesus for the Holy Spirit who still speaks to us and draws those of all ages unto salvation.  Thank you for speaking to Rocco's heart and for answering his prayer for salvation.  It just takes a simple, childlike faith.  Thank you for the simplicity of it.  It may be simple but it took a very large sacrifice.  I know it cost you everything, Lord!

Six years nine months

6 years and 9 months old - Rocco is enjoying first grade.  He is one of the top readers in his class.  Jason and Rocco are a team on the Accelerated Reader program.  Rocco will bring a book home, most of the time it is a non-fiction book about animals.  He and Jason will read it three times together.  Then, Rocco will take a test at school on it.  I've helped him a good bit, too.  Only Meg Kapustay has more points than him.  He has over 20 points which means he's read at least 40 books this school year.  Several months ago Jason told him that he would give him whatever he wanted at the end of the school year if he would reach 20 points.  Well, only half of the school year is over and Rocco has reached it!  Here he is with his first grade teacher, Mrs. Ashworth.  He's wearing  a scarf that she made him.  For Christmas, she made every student a scarf and also gave them a bag of goodies.

Here are a few of his classmates at their Christmas party before school let out for the holidays.  

And speaking of Christmas, Rocco racked up this year.  He only asked Santa for one thing when he talked to him at school.  More hexbugs with tracks.  Santa brought that and so much more!

 Some of his favorites were the Spiderman tent...

 toy knife that has a fake blade going in and out...

and he even got a Sheriff's outfit.

I don't have a picture of him, but Rocco's favorite toy was a turtle that lights up.  When you turn off the lights, Stanley (what we named the turtle) will project stars and the moon on the ceiling.  It is like a Dream Light, but Nana Carolyn found this one because he isn't fuzzy and I'm not allergic to him.  Rocco goes to sleep each night with Stanley lighting up his room.

 This Christmas season we stayed busy at church.  Construction was in full swing on our new sanctuary.  The children's play was held in the old sanctuary while we waited for it to be finished.  The title of the play was The Joy Story.  Rocco played a toy soldier who cleared the way for the toys to arrive.  I was the toy store owner, Mrs. Joy.

 The adult choir was able to sing in the new church building for their musical, Noel Born is the King.  Rocco played the young, boy Jesus.  Here he is with the wise men.

 Of course my birthday was this month.  I turned 36.  My best friend from South Carolina showed up at our house on that Friday after I got off work.  She drove four hours to come see me.  Surprise!  Jennifer, Rocco, and I went to Chattanooga to see the Polar Express on the big 3-d I-Max screen.  Jason stayed behind to watch Maverick.  After the show, we drove to LaFayette and ate at the Dari Dip with my mom and nana.  Afterwards, we drove about a mile and stopped to see the lights downtown.  Even though it is small, I love going there every year because all of the lights are synchronized to the music.  My brother, his girlfriend, and my dad joined us.  Here's Jennifer and me.

And here we are at the lights.  Rocco and I danced...and his favorite part was racing Tyler and me around the track.

In other updates this month, Rocco lost another tooth.  This one was on the bottom.  He lost it Dec 20th.  It's neat that I have one son losing teeth and another one getting them.

Rocco loves to sing Jingle Bells, but when he does he sings, "Bells on bobcats ring!"  He's such a fan of wildcats, and even though I told him that wasn't right, he just keeps on laughing and singing it that way.  I love my silly boy!

Nine Months Old

 Some things haven't changed much since last month with Maverick.  He is still in size 3 diapers, can handle a sippy cup pretty well, cries when you take something away from him, dances to music, loves to play with his big brother, Rocco, and still mostly full of smiles.  I call him "Smiley" sometimes for this reason.  This month has been filled with a few firsts though.

For starters, he began waving (12-4-12).  It's the sweetest thing.  Another cute thing he does is lay his head down when he sees a pillow on the floor.

And a BIG first for Maverick was his first tooth.  It came in on December 4th.  By the end of December, he was showing a second tooth.

 He was already mobile and crawling everywhere last month, but most recently he found that there are lots of goodies hiding in the cabinets.  Just look at all those pots and pans he's pulling out (not to mention all the ribbons and bows he crawled through while I was trying to wrap)!

 He also experienced drinking juice this month.  I mixed just a little apple juice with some water.  With all the teething he's done lately he treats the sippy cup more like a teething toy than something to drink out of.

 One of his biggest tricks is walking behind a push toy.  I got a text from Tonya, my sister-in-law, while I was  at work on Dec. 20th.  It was a video of him doing just that.  I texted her back, "Sit him down until I get there!"  Sure enough when Rocco and I got to nana's to pick him up, he showed us that he could pull up on the toy and walk forward across the carpet with it!  Nana and granddaddy bought him his own walking toy for us to use at home this Christmas. Just look at those sweet, chunky legs!

If you want to get a smile out of Maverick, playing peek-a-boo is a sure way to do it.  He's even learned to pull a piece of paper or a bib over his eyes and then pull it down to look at you.  Sometimes when he is on the changing table, I'll lower myself down and say, "Bye bye!"  Then I'll pop back up.  He seems to never tire from this silly game!

Another thing he never gets tired of is playing with Rocco. I can't put Maverick in his play crib unless Rocco is in there with him or he'll cry. With Rocco in there, I can get so much done.  They'll just play and play.   They have so much fun in this ball pit that Aunt Ta and Uncle Ben got him for Christmas, too.

And of course Maverick experienced his first Christmas this year.  Here are the boys the night before Christmas with their cookies for Santa.  

 And here's little man all into the packages and bows!

 Maverick just loves his granddaddy Gary.  If you ask him, "Where's granddaddy?" he'll look right at him and smile.  If you ask him where anyone else is, he'll just stare at you.  Perhaps that's because granddaddy bounces him on his knee like a horsey.  If granddaddy stops, Maverick will start bouncing to try to start it up again.

One last new trick that may get him into trouble later is shaking his head no.  It all started when I would change his dirty diaper and say, "Shoo."  I'd shake my head no.  Now when I change his diaper, he'll automatically start shaking his head.  And even when he doesn't want something, he'll shake his head.

Unfortunately another first he experienced this month was a high fever and a double ear infection.  I just praise the Lord that he is doing better now and is back to his smiley self!

6 Years 8 Months Old

Rocco is really into football these days.  Throughout the college season, he's stayed up with the Dawgs.  With the help of his daddy, he could tell you who they were going to play each Saturday.  He also could tell you which teams are in the SEC.  And he's also really good at telling you the different referee symbols and what they mean.  I was listening to him play the other day with his little football figures.  I heard him say, "After the review, the play was no good.  Automatic first down..."  He certainly knows all the lingo.

He's not very much into the outdoors.  He'd rather be inside playing with his toys or a game on the Wii or playstation.  He still really likes the football game.  He knows he can play one (sometimes more) games a day, so he'll cut it off during third quarter and think he can start another game.  "But the first one didn't count because I didn't finish it."  He thinks he's getting away with it, but his daddy caught on real fast.  Every now and then we will play the Mario game.  I think it's cute how he still calls Luigi "OOeegi."

Rocco's appetite has picked up some.  One of his favorite's is chicken legs.  On Papa's Sunday, we have to make sure we have enough of them because all of the cousins go after them.  Pringles potato chips, BBQ and sour cream, are also some of his favorite food.  He doesn't care for cupcakes or cake.  He'll eat cookies though.

Will is still one of Rocco's best friends (far right).  He and his brother, Weston, have come home with us a couple of times after school.  The boys always have the best time together.

 During the Thanksgiving season, Rocco dressed up as an Indian at school.  They had their usual feast.  This year Jason went to it.  Now that I am part time I only work half of a day on Friday, and I was home with the baby.

 We had the best time during Thanksgiving break.  Here are a few of the games we played together.  We had to put Maverick in his bouncy swing because he kept getting into our Candyland game pieces.

Every Wednesday night, Rocco attends Team Kid at our church.  He continues to attend Sunday School (Joan W. is his teacher) and children's church (Carol Ann is his teacher).  I also talk to him a good bit at home about the Bible.  He can tell you what the ABCs are of becoming.  Admit you are a sinner, believe Jesus is the Son of God, confess.  He still does not completely understand what all of it means, but he is quickly learning.  At our children's Christmas musical they sang a song about faithful Abraham.  I talked to him about how in the Old Testament people had to kill animals, specifically pure lambs or goats, so that their blood could be offered up as a sacrifice.  I continued to explain that we don't do that anymore because Jesus was our sacrifice.  He took it all in.  Later he asked me something like, "Why couldn't they just kill a cat?"  That boy is a mess, but he is a smart one!

Here we are in our children's Christmas play at church.  The title was the  Joy Story.  I played the part of an old fashioned toy store owner, Mrs. Joy, who had joyful news of the real meaning of Christmas.  My toys talked and taught a high minded New York toy store owner about Jesus.  Rocco was one of the toy soldiers.  He was so excited that he got to use a real walkie talkie during his speaking part.

8 Months Old

Maverick now weighs a little over 22 pounds and is in a size 3 diaper. And speaking of diapers he has suddenly turned into a little squirmy worm when it comes time to get a new diaper.  He tries to turn over on his left side and then sit up.  We're constantly having to wrestle him just to change his diaper.  He is still mostly breast fed, but he also eats Gerber rice or oatmeal and stage 2 Gerber fruits/vegetables.  Recently he began to get a little water out of a sippy cup.  He likes it when I give him about an inch worth of water out of a straw. He does not take a pacifier, but he chews on it sideways as a teething toy.

Within the last month, Maverick experienced his first Halloween .  He was the cutest dalmatian.

This was the first Thanksgiving without my Papaw Billy.  Although it was sad, we still carried on.  It was Maverick's first Thanksgiving.  Here's a picture of him sitting in the same high chair that I used over 30 years ago.

He and Rocco watched some of the Macy's Parade at Mimi and Papaw's house Thanksgiving morning.  (Because they live out of town, we spent the night there Wednesday.)

Later that day we had a big lunch with my side of the family.  My mom, dad, nana, brother, Daelyn, Jason, our boys, and I were there.  My brother's girlfriend and kids also joined us.  That evening, the boys and I headed to my cousin Jana's house.  She has 3 boys and Rocco likes to play with them.

That night my mom, the boys, and I headed to KMart to do a little shopping.  It wasn't truly Black Friday yet, but many stores were opening up so we headed there to see if we could find some bargains.

This is our family Thanksgiving picture that was taken at my parents' house.

Our little boy is into everything.  The last week of November he really began to crawl more with his arms straight (not just on his elbows).  We have to put up barricades (Rocco calls them 'barricaves"), and even then he crawls over them and makes his way to the TV cords or the Christmas tree.

This month he began pulling up and standing.  He's so good now that he just stands there with only one hand holding on to something.  I don't think it will be too long before he starts cruising.

Maverick loves to be read to.  He will take his little index finger and point to different parts of the book. He's good with his fine motor skills; just the other day he figured out how to make Granddaddy's recliner move by pushing a button.  At our house, he pulled his toy to him by tugging on the string attached to it.

 Music is another thing that he likes.  He's begun to rock back and forth when he hears something he likes, as if he is dancing.  When he's playing in the floor it's common for him to bang items or pat on things as if he is a drummer.  I think he likes the clanking noise they make.

We have four Christmas trees up this year, one in the living room and one in each bedroom.  Here's a picture of Maverick in front of the GA tree that is in Rocco's room.

 And speaking of GA, it is a shame that we lost the SEC championship game to Alabama this past Saturday. We would have had the opportunity to go up against Notre Dame for the National Championship title.  Oh well.  We are still training our boys to be DAWG fans.  Just look at this little bulldog.

There are still no teeth in sight in his sweet little mouth, but you can bet he drools like crazy.  At any given time you can likely see a small stream flowing off of his chin, especially if he's been chewing on a toy.  Most things still end up in his mouth.  Recently we started giving him really big stick pretzels when he is sitting in high chair.  He likes to gnaw on it.  He can't really chew it, but you can bet he makes a slobbery mess!  Baby spit is sweet (at least Maverick's is).

On Nov 24, Rocco called out, "Mama come here!  Look at Maverick!"  I came from the kitchen and peeked into the living room.  He had climbed onto the first step of the landing.  Oh no!  It seems like now there is no limit as to where he will end up!

6 years 7 months old

Rocco is continuing to grow and learn more and more.  He has been asking a lot of questions lately, especially science ones.  I love this.  For instance, the other day he asked me,"Why does the mirror do that when you get a shower?"  I was able to explain to him about water vapor and condensation.  Then another day I got this one, "Mommy, this is a hard question.  Why do you breathe air out but you can't see it?"  We talked about solids, liquids, and gases.  Then I tied in God with this one because we believe and have faith in a God that we can't see, but we can certainly see the things He does and creates.  Another question he asked was why certain clouds were white and not dark.

Rocco is one of the best behaved kids in his class.  It's true.  I'm not just partial, you can ask his teacher.  Whenever they do something extra nice, the students will receive dots.  Ten dots gets you a prize of your choice in the treasure chest.  For his first ten dots he got an old cell phone.  You would have thought it was Christmas.  He loved that phone!  For his next ten he got some cheap happy meal toy.  He just keeps on earning dots.  Some kids haven't even earned 5 yet and he's beyond 20!

I don't know why he does this but he is always telling me to tell Maverick something...as if he couldn't say it himself.  Like he'll say, "Tell Maverick what a good big brother I am."  "Hey mommy, tell Maverick about my new phone and my ten dots."  So, I'll go into a long explanation (Maverick can't even understand), for the pure satisfaction of Rocco.  He likes it when I brag on him or explain things to Maverick that he has done.

At school each day he gets to go to a different activity.  He has ranked them in order by how much he likes each of them and bases whether or not it is a good day on which activity he gets to go to.  First place goes to PE.  Second is music, and third is computer lab.  Fourth is science (I'm not his teacher this year because I'm part time to stay home with Maverick), and lightspan is fifth. Coming in dead last is his LEAST favorite...art.  He does NOT like to color or draw.  Art is such a bummer class to him.

He loves to stay inside just like me.  His daddy would rather he go hunting with him or play outside.  If it were up to Rocco he'd stay at home, inside all day and just play with his toys or video games on the Wii.  Recently Jason brought home a used Playstation game system.  His newest favorite is the football game on it.

7 Months Old

At seven months old, Maverick is a curious explorer.  Now that he's able to crawl he is everywhere checking everything out.  Most of it ends up in his mouth....

so we have to be extra careful that our floors are clean of little pieces.  The living room floor is covered with many baby friendly toys ...

  but somehow he manages to crawl on this determined mission...

and find the cord to the Playstation game, or the controllers, or the remote control, or the DVDs, or the water bottle lying on the floor.  For some reason the things that he should NOT be messing with are the things he wants most!

We have to keep a constant eye on this little boy of ours; he is a mess.  I tried to work on the computer for a few minutes.  Normally I hold him in my lap, but I can't even do that anymore because he has made hash out of my desk, ripping up all my neatly organized papers with important e-mail addresses and passwords on it.  I decided to strap him in his seat right next to me.  I let him have a little, blue starfish to play with.  In no time he was doing a hand stand...his upper body strength held him up or else he would have been on the floor.  He was was determined to get that starfish that he dropped.

Maverick just loves Rocco; he laughs at him often for no apparent reason.  He just thinks Rocco is funny.  Here they are watching TV, Power Rangers, together. Just look at that cute, little head peeking at me. 

 This month Maverick was finally big enough to sit in a high chair.  He first sat in one at Bovine's, a restaurant we went to during our fall vacation in Myrtle Beach.  Later in the month, Jason had to bring Rocco's old high chair down to our kitchen from storage.  It was time to use it again!  Here's daddy feeding him in that chair for the first time.

He's also gone through some changes in the way of food this month.  He's moved onto Gerber stage 2 foods, which means there is more to eat in the jar and it is just a tad thicker in its texture.  He also has oatmeal in the morning mixed with my milk.  He continues to eat rice cereal with my milk, too.  Most of his nutrition still comes from nursing though.  We sign "milk" to him.  When he's hungry this makes him smile.  

Maverick is so strong.  He has the tightest grip, and he loves to hold onto our faces or hair.  He did a job on granddaddy's face the other day and scratched it.  If Nana Carolyn is not careful he will grab her glasses right off of her face.  His little pinch actually hurts; he doesn't know his own strength.  And speaking of how strong he is, this month he learned how to sit up straight without falling over.  This makes bath time a little easier.

He is coming along with his little personality, too.  He loves to be tickled.  Jason and I bury our heads in his upper chest near his neck and he is all smiles and giggles.  He can also get upset, too.  He does NOT like being strapped in his car seat. Most of the time when we go somewhere it is a challenge just to get him situated in it because he bows his back up and pitches a fit.  Most of the time he is very pleasant; he's just a happy baby.  We know when he gets tired, because that's one of the few times when he is cranky.  He just rubs his nose and face with his fists.  It's really sweet.

Earlier this month we took him to the doctor for a checkup. Thank the Lord his clogged tear duct opened up on its own.  No probes needed!   He was in the 98th percentile for his height.  He is 29 inches long, about as long as a one year old.  Jason was 29  1/2 in long when he was 12 months old. He weighs over 19 pounds; we had to move him into size 3 diapers.