What's your favorite Bible verse?

I'm stuck in a hotel room in Gulfport, MS. I'm exhausted, having worked outside all day, then having to come inside to tackle the stack of reports that I have to review - more than I could ever possibly finish. To top it all off, when I talked to David tonight, I found out that Elizabeth has a stomach bug. There's nothing worse than being away from your little girl when she's sick. :(

So, I got on the computer in a bad mood and intent on complaining...but instead, I had a note from a friend asking what my favorite bible verse is.

My favorite bible verses are Jeremiah 9:23-24:

For the Lord says, "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the mighty man in his might, nor the rich man in his riches. Let them boast in this alone - that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord of justice and of righteousness whose love is steadfast, and that I love to be that way."

I love these verses for many reasons. On a personal note, they remind me of my grandmother, who had them underlined in a bible she gave to me. They also remind me that I am not worthy of anything that I have or desire, and that I should only desire to know and love God more. And, they also remind me of how steadfast God's love is, and how he chooses to love all of us.

Just thinking of that changed my mood. So, what's your favorite bible verse? And have you truly thought about it and enjoyed the truth behind it lately?

The best 97 cents ever spent

When we were leaving Mississippi, we had to stop at Wal-Mart for a minute. On a whim, David suggested we let Elizabeth pick a rubber duck out of a huge display in the middle of the aisle. She picked a bright pink duck and proceeded to play with it through most of the long drive home. She was particularly excited as she kept telling us she would have "two ducks" when she got home - because she already had a yellow duck there.

Sure enough, since the 2 ducks were united, they have been inseparable. Of course, they are in her bath every night. Plus, they've also been spotted in the stroller and the baby bed together. And, as a special treat, David has even let Elizabeth take them "swimming" in the kitchen several times:



If only all future purchases for Elizabeth could be so easy and cheap. Think she'll be excited to receive a green duck for her 16th birthday?

Sledding....Mississippi-style

BB has a huge hill in her backyard. When I saw it, I immediately thought it would be a very nice sledding hill. Then, BB told us that she and Aunt Donnette went sledding on it at Thanksgiving. Being the Kentucky girl I am, I questioned how they could have gone sledding in Mississippi in November. And, she and David proceeded to tell me you can sit on a piece of cardboard and sled down the hill. P-shaw, I thought....but, you know what? They were absolutely right - and Elizabeth had a blast!

Back from our adventure

We're back! Elizabeth was a real trooper in the car. She had her fussy moments, but she did so much better than she had in our past car trips. That was a relief! Of course, she also had a lot of new videos, toys, and books...plus Mommy and Daddy to keep her busy!

Her sleeping was still pretty lousy, but that's always the case when we travel. Anytime she wakes up in a new environment, her senses go into overload, and she's ready to get up and play. And, now that she's talking, it's even harder to ignore....nothing like hearing "Mommy, WAKE UP!" at 3:00am for 3 nights in a row!

We had a very good visit with David's family. Elizabeth absolutely loved seeing her BB, Papa Joe and Uncle Scott, as well as the rest of David's family, including his aunt, uncle, and cousins.

She spent a lot of time playing with BB:



And just chilling:




But, I think the highlight of the trip for her had to be meeting Piglet...Uncle Scott's black cat that would actually let her come up and pet her - unlike our psycho cat Scarlet at home! She followed Piglet around for most of the weekend. And, when Piglet went outside, she kept asking Uncle Scott to go find her!








David's dad was doing the best that I'd ever seen him. He is in a nursing home in the advanced stages of Parkinson's and can barely talk. But, on Sunday, we were able to bring him home for the day and he managed to crack some jokes and make faces for the camera. And, as we were saying goodbye to him, Elizabeth gave her "Papa Joe" a kiss, and he said "Bye-bye darling" as clear as day. It definitely made the long car trip and sleepless nights worth it!

On the road to Missippi

Tomorrow, we're taking a deep breath and plunging into the 9-hour (without a toddler) drive to "Missippi." Wish us luck! Not only are we braving putting Elizabeth in a carseat for that long, but we're also foolishly hoping she'll actually sleep while we're there. One can hope, right?

We've been talking to Elizabeth about it all week, plus buying lots of new toys and books to keep her occupied on the drive, so right now she's anxious to go. We'll see how long that lasts. But, for now, she is very excited about going to visit BB and Papa Joe in Missippi!

Oh, and it's now "Missippi" because that's how Elizabeth says it, and it's just so darn cute! Who needs the extra syllable anyway?

Happy Valentine's Day!

This picture was actually taken before church on Sunday. We were all excited about dressing her up in her Valentine's dress for "school" this morning, but we got hit with ANOTHER snow day today! At this rate, the kids are going to be in school until June!

Children's Museum

This weekend, we took another trip to Explorium, the Lexington children's museum. Elizabeth had a great time and keeps telling us stories about it. She's now stringing up to 3 words together at a time, so she particularly likes to tell us she "rolled sleeves up" and "made big mess." She had so much fun, we got a family membership, so she and David can go during the week.

Here are some pics of her playing in the water and bubble exhibits:

More fun in the snow

It's been really cold in Kentucky the last week or so - close to ZERO degrees, which is mighty cold for us! We're all ready for spring! Even Jonathan's ready, now that he's learned he has to go to school 3 more days in May because of the recent snowdays they've had.

But, he and Elizabeth had a lot of fun when David took them sledding the last time it snowed. (Poor Mommy doesn't get snow days!)







It was so cold that Elizabeth couldn't stay out very long, but she had a lot of fun sledding with Jon - she giggled all the way down the hill!

The secret's out

After being sworn to secrecy, we've had to withhold this video from you:



But, the Hobbs Family blog has finally announced the news - Aunt Erin's having another baby! YEAH!!!!

Snowbaby

This morning, David went to a seminar at UK to learn how to take the Praxis test, and Jonathan slept in until noon, so Elizabeth and I were on our own. We decided to get dressed up and go play in the snow. It was very cold out, so Elizabeth had to put on her leg warmers, sweatsuit, two pairs of socks, her snowpants, her coat, her hat from Peru, her gloves and her boots. It felt very similar to the scene from A Christmas Story. I think the dressing process took longer than we actually spent outside! But, Elizabeth didn't mind putting all those clothes on - she was really excited about putting on her boots at the end, so she held still for everything else.





After the dressing process was over, she was particularly excited that she and Mommy *both* had black boots on:



Once we got outside, she was pretty hesitant at first. She wasn't at all sure that she wanted to walk out on the white snow. But, once she learned that she could "crunch" the snow with her boots and throw the snow up with her hands, she had a blast. It was a lot of fun!

Fun with Play-doh

Eizabeth got a pack of Play-doh in her stocking for Christmas, with a bunch of small containers of different colors. She's had fun on and off playing with individual colors since then - mainly rolling, squishing, and pondering putting it in her mouth. But, today, Daddy (who was desperate after being stuck inside because of cold and snow) got them ALL out at once. They spent most of the day playing with it, including rolling it all into "worms," using cookie cutters to cut shapes, and making "gingerbread" men that could "run, run, as fast as you can." Jonathan even got into the act when they let school out early because of the snow!