Halloween 2010

Posted by Mari Jo on October 31, 2010 about Family, Comments are off

This Halloween was VERY busy in the Hopkins household. We were in the hospital with Landon a week prior to Halloween, and it made it very difficult to get the little ones costumes finished. I spent all night one night sewing Landon’s, but luckily I had finished most of Aubrey Ann’s prior to our little hospital stay, so I just had to put a few finishing touches on hers.

Of course we had to make a trip to the pumpkin patch. Our littlest pumpkin slept through the trip, but Aubrey Ann had a great time running through the maze and even taking a little pony ride! It was a great time.

Here are some pictures of us at the pumpkin patch. I am pretty sure Brandon and I picked the two best pumpkins there ever were!

On Halloween we did our usual stuff. We visited family, and finally ended up spending the evening at Mamaw and Papaw’s house passing out candy. Aubrey Ann got a real kick out of passing out candy this year. She absolutely LOVED her Dorothy costume. However, I can’t say that Landon was a huge fan of his cowardly lion costume. Time spent sewing costume = 5 + hours. Time Landon actually spent wearing said costume = less than 5 minutes. Yeah, that was a pretty good trade. But I must say, it was about the cutest 5 minutes EVER!

When we got to Mamaw and Papaw’s house, Mamaw and Papaw surprised us by joining Aubrey Ann in Landon in their Wizard of Oz theme. Mamaw was the wicked witch of the West, and Papaw was a flying monkey. Aubrey Ann was a bit scared, but she eventually warmed up to her Papaw in a monkey suit.

Despite getting off to a rocky start, it was still the most wonderful Halloween ever. Seeing the kids together warms my heart to much. I truly feel so blessed to have both of these precious kiddo’s in our lives!

October 2010

Posted by Mari Jo on October 31, 2010 about Family, Comments are off

This month has been one wild ride! From trips to the hospital, to celebrating Halloween, this month is the month that just refuses to quit!

The beginning of this month Aubrey Ann went with her Meme and Pa to the renaissance fair, and Landon decided to make a surprise visit. Aubrey Ann loved seeing all the bizarre characters, and also enjoyed watching the jousting. We think Landon liked the 10 minutes he was awake to see! Here are some pics of the Renaissance fair.

Keep us in your prayers

Posted by Mari Jo on October 21, 2010 about Landon, 1 comment

Many of you know of the trials we have been having with Landon, and him not eating like he is suppose to. Some days are great, and we praise God for those, but others are not so good. There are days that by the end of the feedings I feel spent, and exhausted from all of work it takes to feed our sweet little guy.

I am so thankful that I have God to rely on when times are tough. I have found so much comfort in God’s word:

²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4.

What an awesome blessing to know that all of this isn’t just because “bad things happen”, but because God is using it to do a good work in our lives. I long for all of us to be “mature and complete”.

¹²Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. James 1:12

I am not going to pretend like it is all OK. It isn’t. But I know that God will give me strength to stand this test, and that in the end, regardless of when that end comes, I will come away from this with a stronger, deeper faith, and with the knowledge that God is faithful, and keeps His promises.

I often wonder how people make it through life without being able to “cast [their] cares upon Him”. What an awesome blessing it is to know that God is in control of our lives, and that we can always count on Him, not to make everything “perfect”, not even to make everything “easy”, but to make everything work for our good.

Please pray for us. God is so good, and I feel him there when I am counting every last tenth of an ounce, when I am pushing Landon to take just a bit more, when I on my knees begging for an answer to all of this. God is good. He is so, so good.

I don’t know when it will get better, but I know that God can sustain us for however long it takes. No matter what, He isn’t leaving our side.

Thank you God, for being our King. Thank you for sustaining us even when we feel so lost and worried. Thank you for loving our little Landon more than we can ever imagine. Give us your grace to make it through this trial, so that you can do your work in our family. Give us a sense of peace in those moments of frustration and despair. Give us the ability to lean on you, and not our own strength. We are nothing without you, we know this, and we love you so much. We give you Landon and ask for a complete healing, but if that doesn’t come, we ask for strength to persevere regardless. We ask for wisdom for the doctors. We ask that you give Aubrey Ann an extra portion of your love. Use this time to shape her into the young lady that you desire her to be. Help her to have peace during this time, and help her to feel our love and not feel neglected due to the amount of time and effort it takes to feed Landon. Give her comfort during all of the doctors appointments. Thank you for loving us more than we can even imagine. We trust you to do your work. I am setting aside my pride and admitting that I don’t know how to fix this, but I have faith in the God that does. We love you, and give you permission (not that you needed it) to work in all of our lives. Please bless our children, and give them a strong faith that is built around truly knowing and serving you. In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen.

Milestones!

Posted by Mari Jo on October 20, 2010 about Family, Comments are off

We are all so excited about all of the new and exciting things happening around this house! We have two sweet kiddo’s who are meeting some very important and exciting milestones. I want to take a minute and share them with all of you!
Landon

First smile- This one is a bit difficult for us to determine. We have a video of Landon smiling every time Brandon says ‘Da-da’ and he is 3 and a half weeks old. That seems VERY young, so we aren’t 100% sure, but he was definitely smiling by 4 weeks.

Sleeping through the night- (9 hours) 7 weeks

Sleeping through the night (12 hours)- 9 weeks (10/19/10)

Batting at toys- 8 weeks (10/15/10)

Repeating “ah-goo”- 6 weeks

Mimicking faces (pouting lip, smile, sticking out tongue)- 6 weeks

Aubrey Ann

First time writing her name with no help, and without looking at her name printed else where (9/12/10)

Reading simple books without help (10/10)

We are so proud of these munchkins. Watching them grow and discover new things about the world around them is so exciting! What an honor to be able spend my day watching them grow! Thank you Daddy for working so hard so that I can be here to witness all of this myself. I am truly a blessed woman to have you!

Book Review- Shepherding a Child’s Heart

Posted by Mari Jo on October 13, 2010 about Aubrey Ann, Family, 2 comments

I have never done a book review previously, but I am currently reading “Shepherding a Child’s Heart” and feel compelled to write a review. I am not yet finished, but I thought that I would write a few words about it, just in case any of my Mommy friends out there are looking for a good (and CONVICTING!) read.

When I first started this book, I almost skipped reading the forward, but luckily I decided to read it, because in just the first few paragraphs of the forward I was brought to tears, and on my knees before the Lord on behalf of our children.

The premise of the book is that discipline should be a heart issue, not simply a behavior modification issue. It is easy enough to get a child to obey, but to change a child’s heart so that his behavior is a reflection of his love for the Lord, is a completely different matter.

So far the book has discussed how parents are often afraid to take a leadership role in the home, and then when they do, they do it without the right intentions. Teaching a child to follow a set of rules, but not change his heart is in essence, hypocrisy. It is my desire not only to teach my children to behave appropriately with proper respect for authority, but for that behavior to be a reflection of a changed heart that loves and obeys the Lord.

I am only four chapters in, so I will write a full review when I am completely finished, but nearly every chapter has brought me to tears, and has caused many deep discussions between Brandon and I.

Now I am off to put some of this into practice!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Posted by Mari Jo on October 2, 2010 about Aubrey Ann, Comments are off

These last couple of months have brought some pretty big changes to the Hopkins Home. Life as we know it will never be the same. Currently, there is a double dose of testosterone in our house, and Aubrey Ann and I were just getting use to being the queen bees around here. So here are some BIG things (ok, not all of them are so big, but they are still worth mentioning!) that have happened in our home recently.

1. Landon is welcomed into our lives. (Obviously the biggest change around here).