It's how you live

"Turn up the music
Turn it up loud
Take a few chances
Let it all out
You won’t regret it
Lookin’ back from where you have been
‘Cause it’s not who you knew
And it’s not what you did
It’s how you live"
~chorus from Point of Grace song...for complete lyrics:http://www.lyrics-celebrities.anekatips.com/song-lyrics/how-you-live-turn-up-the-music-lyrics-point-of-grace

One of my best friends sang that song in church yesterday. I love this song. It's a great reminder of how to live your life. If you haven't heard it before, at least look up all the lyrics. So great!

And it made me think of my dear Grandmother, who at 88 years old passed away almost two weeks ago. So sad, but it's also a reason to celebrate. She is in Heaven!!! Rejoicing, singing, laughing, dancing...ahhh... Grandma always said she prayed that she would go in her sleep without suffering and after 88 years of love and obedience to God, He granted her request. So why does that song make me think of her? It's the "it's how you live" part. She lived with so much love and wanted nothing more than for her entire family to know that love and pass it on. She mothered 8 children (the youngest only one year old when her husband died), and was most proud of being "Grandma" and "Great-Grandma." She was married to her one true love, and though he died something like 45 years ago, she never remarried because he was the man of her dreams, her one true love, so she didn't see the need to find anyone else. She had her family and her God. I could go on and on about this amazing woman I had the privelege of calling "Grandma" for 30 years. For now, I just know that I want to live with the love that she did. God's love. Feeling it, giving it, embracing it. Love!

As if a death in the family weren't enough, we got another round of illness in our family. Addie came down with a fever, which then turned in to a rash that covered her entire body. Thankfully, after 3 trips to the doctor and a blood test that came back perfectly normal, it was determined that she had an allergic reaction to the Amoxycillin she was taking for her ear and throat infection. It was a long week last week, but I'm glad we have an answer and now know to stay away from penicillins for Addison. She's all better now...and acting more herself. Which means repeating everything she hears (so watch your mouth if you're around our daughter! ;) ) and running around like crazy and wanting to "go out-tide" to play. One of my favoritist things to hear her say is "I go right back." And she holds up her little hand and her first finger as she says it. So stinkin cute. Then she goes and gets what she wants or does what she intended and does (usually) come right back.

Ethan is just so adorable. He got his crazy cough back, but he acts fine and doesn't have a fever or anything, so I'm not worried. One of these days the summer weather will hit and we'll be able to burn off these germs (since apparently freezing the germs didn't work). He can now sit surrounded by pillows (or the big curly body pillow I used while pregnant--if you're ever pregnant, invest in one of these pregnancy body pillows--fantastic!) and play with his toys, which is cool. And he likes his exersaucer for playing.

We got to see little Ava last weekend. Oh my goodness, she is so precious.

Since it was the day of Grandma's funeral, pictures were not exactly abundant. But my brother snapped a few of Ethan and Ava. He is two months older than her, but twice her size. :) It was cute to see them look at each other.

Thanks for reading! Gotta go. :)

Tag.Stuff.

So I've been "tagged" no less than 3 times already, so something inside of me is saying, just do it already. In case you don't know, I think the rules are something like saying 5-7 things (depending on whose version of tag you go by) random or weird things about yourself and then tagging other people. I'm not going to take the time to look up the real rules and all that jazz...but, here goes. (oh, and since this is our family blog, the facts are about all of us)

1. I'm a procrastinator (in case you haven't noticed).
2. Both of our kids were born with what we called their "special ear." Can't explain them well in words, but both kids are growing out of it or into it, depending how you look at it.
3. Brad wants to be famous. (I got his permission to make this public knowledge before sharing, so it's all good) :) In fact, I think he would be perfectly happy to be a Matt Lauer and get paid to talk all day and interview other famous people. (only we don't want to live in New York, so that could be a problem)
4. We are not big on cleaning. We definitely don't live in a pigsty. For the most part (with the huge exception of toys), we keep things picked up. It's just that we don't exactly dust and sweep and scrub the toilet and shower on a regular basis. I'm sure there are others of you out there, so please don't judge us. :) (and next time you're at our house, don't do a dust bunny inspection) :)
5. I fell into a fire hydrant, busted my cheek open and had five stitches in my cheek when I was 5 (ish). I still have the scar to show for it. I was racing my bike with a neighbor. I guess he must've won.
6. When I was 3 (ish), I had to have a cast on my arm because it got sprained or twisted or whatever in a wrestling match with someone who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent. ;)
7. Knowing what all happened to me and my brother and hearing Brad's stories sort of scares me when it comes to my own children. I know things are gonna happen and life goes on and God is in control of it all, but I still get nervous.

Now I'm supposed to tag some other people, but really, all my bloggin' friends have done this (or most of them have). So, if you haven't, consider doing it. :)

***

Quick updates, then I'm going to bed:
Addie is speaking in sentences. It's crazy. You can pretty much carry on a whole conversation with her. And she can identify most of the letters in the alphabet. And she used to call Ethan "eetee" until about 2 days ago when she decided she could say "ethan." I kinda miss the eetee. It was way cute.
Ethan is just the most adorable little boy ever. He's our giggler. I guess earlier tonight while I was at class, my dad was playing with him with a little toy and Dad said he kept laughing and laughing and had everyone else laughing because he was carrying on. Then, in typical baby fashion, he was done laughing all of the sudden. He's 6 months old, which is crazy. But that means he's oh so close to sitting up all by himself and that's exciting.

God Bless!