Around the Crazy House

How Crazy is your family? Mine's coo coo!!

A Crazy Christmas....

Merry Christmas!!

From Our Crazies To You and Yours!

Guess The Year!

Do You know what year this was?

It was the year I turned 20 and now I am nearly 30!

CRAZY!!

The Future According to Kace and Gresham

"When I get married I'm gonna have seven kids." ....Gresham.

"When I get married I'm gonna have 4 or 5 girls." .....Kace.

"What kind of kids are you gonna have?" .....Kace.

"Boys." ....Gresham.

"Allll boys?"......Kace.

"Yes. Boys." .....Gresham.

"I'm gonna have girls. Five girls." .....Kace.

"I'm gonna have seven boys and a momma." .......Gresham.

"But boys you should love your wife more than your children." ....Momma.

"Momma, you should love God more than your wife." .....Kace.

"Yeah, Love God, then love my kids, and my mother." .....Gresham. to gman a mother is a wife!

Reposting Memories: Circa 2007 Christmas

This was originally posted on our old family blog and in hopes of someday deleting that I thought it would be fun to ressurect some of those posts, especially the ones with photos of the kiddos!
I know the photos are REALLY lame, but they are old cellphone pics! It's still fun to see these!

Silas

Silas helping to decorate the tree.

Kace Man Also Helping!

Me and the big boys working together!
I remember having a lot of fun doing this!

It was so much fun this year with the boys helping to put up the tree, although the constant shuffle of ornaments is not something that I relish now that it is up it is still a blessed family time. We have had a lot of fun thinking of things and opening boxes from family! How can you not enjoy Christmas?

So here is the burning question-- Do you have Santa in your house or not? And why?

Just a little bit curious to see what other families do. Silas thinks santa is a snowman and Kace hasn't a concept. I don't want to cause further confusion, it is difficult enough to try and explain the trinity to a three year old, epecially at a time like this with all the mangers and baby Jesus'.



 2011 Update: We don't "do" santa. Our little Kace man is very sensative to lies and because he is a stickler and we want to encourage him to trust and honor us as his parents and spiritual examples, we have chosen to teach our children that santa isn't real, but a lie people enjoy. That might sound harsh, but it is our take and not ment to be offensive. They know that Jesus is the reason. But I have to honestly admit we don't say "don't say xmas" or "happy holidays is evil!" We infact don't have a problem with saying "xmas" or "happy holidays" because they don't take christ out of christmas.

The Cost Of Staying Salty

This might not convict you, but it sure does me! When hard things happen I am that soldier who keeps asking why things have to be so hard, dirty and dangerous. I must admit that before about 10 years ago, my vision of the christian walk was a very easy road, even easier than the road before Christ. I think I allowed myself to be misled by the "ideology" that drives most if not all of our outreach! So when the hard things occur, I'm like "why?" insert whiny voice! I even annoy myself! I need to hear these things, as I am often tempted to just stop being salty. I really have very little courage but we are working through it! Or should I say I am getting carried around alot by the savior?!

One Reason Why I Know Fear Never Pays

"We just want you to head straight over to the emergency room this afternoon and get some pathology work done." Our pediatrician said to us. He was pretty up beat and I didn't see a need to get nervous. In fact I assumed this action was simply routine. We drove down town to the state children's hospital where we had been referred. We both looked at one another strangely when we were called back almost immediately and quickly by passed triage and weren't assigned the open ER standard rooms (curtained beds with patients sitting on them) but a private room. I don't remember exactly what the tag next to the door said, but it might as well have been a beacon for "compromised immune system" as we learned later this was the room the doctors take the cancer kids.

And The Answer To Your Question Is......

Crazy!! Oh Yeah!

Sea Time...

Teeth are coming out, hence their vertical direction!

Having a good attitude under the circumstances

Yeah, she got a fat lip....my little dainty princess...oh wait...what?!?

Cute must run in our family!

Happy indians and grumpy pilgrims..apt!

Guess they both like TV...

Doh!

Merry Christmas Time Is Here....

Love from ALL of us to ALL of you!!

The CRAZY Doug Fam

Here is a link to our "official card" or you can make your own!

Have a joyful holiday!

Christmas Wouldn't Be The Same Without....

World According To Kace: Santa Edition

Silas, Kace, and Gresham holding Libi together!
I am sorta Jealous of her having so many brothers!

"So you boys ready for Santa?" Asked the drive thru clerk of Kace and Silas.

"Santa ISN'T real!" Kace.

"Oh, sure he is!" poor clerk!

"No, HE'S NOT! He's NOT real! He's a LIE!!" Kace nearly yelling, while daddy politely says thank you and tries to quickly drive away!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that day at a toll booth....

"You boys excited to see what Santa is bringing you?" Toll booth lady!

"Sure, sure, Yeah!" Silas trying to head off the general mele caused by an irked Kace who assumes everyone is trying to deceive him!

"Silas, you must tell the truth no matter what happens." Daddy trying not to laugh.

"But daddy, Kace would have freaked again!" Silas makes good sense, but takes wrong actions....don't we all! :D

It's Been a LONG Month!

It's been a LONG month! One of the longest ones I can ever remember! Our sweet flibberdilou has contracted some errant virus which forced her to be hospitalized for three days and released on thanksgiving day which made us all VERY thankful we weren't in the hospital for longer, but it was still a long week of separation for our family! We had a wonderful nursing staff and luckily Will was able to miss only one work day to care for the kids while I stayed with Libi at the hospital! I remember the nurse asking me "You seem so calm!" I was by this point beyond exhausted and just ready to have someone say, "Here Larissa, I will take all the pressure you go take a nap for three days, okay?!" But I remember telling her of when we thought Silas had leukemia and when Kace had his arm surgically set after a severe break when he was 3. I just knew that this time around Libi wasn't my baby to freak out over. She is on loan and very much appreciated, but still she doesn't ultimately belong to me! I could not freak out, even when they told me if it developed into Pneumonia they could not treat her.

It was such an eye opening experience, I mean really who thinks about those people in the hospital during the holidays?! I never have! I never think about the doctors or the nurses, or the families with sick children. While in the ER my eyes met those of another mother whose son who was also on a stretcher being admitted to the hospital. This mom would not look away from my stare. Something passed between two mothers at that moment, a feeling of total understanding and compassion. I have never looked into the eyes of another human being before and seen their pain and felt my own ability to touch that pain! That mom was going through the same thing, although in a different way. Her child, like mine was struggling and she was afraid! I will never forget her eyes. I will never forget how she looked at me and didn't look away. I will think about her because in that moment I felt my own humanity most acutely! I felt my own fearful nature, I saw myself reflected back at me. I attempted to use my eyes and my look to convey support and grace. I hope in the future I can experience more moments of humanity in this manner. Where I look upon another person and can have complete unity of feeling.

I am still learning what it means to be a steward of the lives I am given! I have not learned yet completely how to trust and obey. But I can admit, with total honesty that I am trying!! I want to be able to say, that in the face of a great and terrible illness which could likely affect this little gem's entire life forward, I am following with abandon. I hope one day, and I know my hope to be valid, to seem the fruit of this hope and know my life to truly reflect His image!

Cinderella Came To My House

"Petra, help pick up these things on the floor."

"But I am cinderella,  momma!"

"Cinderella obey's her momma!"

"Cinderella doesn't have a momma!"

Now I am thinking Cinderella should stay at her own home! :D

Top Five Ever

A few weeks ago my husband asked me what my top five books were of all the books I have ever read and I was stumped. First many of the books I love, like Anne of Green Gables and Pride and Prejudice have been read numerous times, while still not being reads that stick in my head and have me thinking and pondering and (dare I say it?) growing! I really thought about the top five books I could read over and over and still come away from them changed in some way. I chose ones which feel like they have drilled into my brain and settled in my mind and never can leave. Ones that connect to thoughts I have yet to think and ones I think over and over again. I am forced to choose books which really seem to live. I can see and hear the human being on the other end of these books and they are haunting in their grasp and vision of life and this world. My heart connects to these books, responds to the words, and is evoked into a wide range of emotions. So here they are my top five of all time...just remember I am 30 so my experience and reading is limited, I hope to have 30 more years to enjoy the human gift of writing! I have not placed the bible in this list, because it goes without saying.

Larissa's bookshelf: top-five-fave




More of Larissa's books »

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