Halloween 2010

We had a blast this year dressing up and getting candy.  This year Liberty was a Barbie Musketeer.  If you are unaware of what is going on in the world of Barbie, she recently starred in a movie call Barbie and the Three musketeers.  This is where Liberty got the idea .  She looked unbelievably cute and no one had a costume like hers.  I didn’t put a ton of effort into Emory’s costume because she still wasn’t walking and would just be riding in the stroller.  Obviously  she was the cutest Minnie Mouse ever!  She cracked me up with those ears on.  She rarely tried to take them off.  They made her feel fancy .

We started Halloween off by going to Storybook Forest on Thursday.  I am so thankful that we went early because it was packed!  Scott didn’t get to go with us this year, but we still had a great time.  The girls got candy and Liberty made smores by the the fire.

On Friday, Guthrie had its annual Downtown Trick-or-Treat.  All the downtown business participate.  Store owners and employees dress up and pass out candy.  It’s just one of the charming things about living in Guthrie.  Its great for the little ones and virtually eliminates the need to go door-to-door (which we never do anyway).

On Saturday morning we headed to Texas to celebrate my nieces birthday.  We didn’t want to miss any opportunities to dress up though.  We took all three girls to a Fall Festival in a nearby town.  I think Emory had just as much fun as Liberty.  She hung out with her Papa while I chased Liberty.

On Sunday we had Hannah’s birthday party.  After the party, we took the kids to the trunck-or-treat at the Methodist Church and around the square downtown.  I think its safe to say that we made the most of Halloween this year. 

Liberty’s favorite thing about Halloween this year was her costume.  She absolutely loved it.  She also loved that she got to spend part of Halloween with our family in Texas, which she has never gotten to do before.  Emory’s favorite was that she got to have a sucker.  No one loves a sucker like Emory!

The culprit is sin...the solution is our SAVIOR

Last night at church a man was telling a group of us about a friend of his whose daughter has epilepsy.  In a recent conversation this mother asked her friend, a Believer, "If God is so good, why is my daughter sick?"  The question, while not surprising, broke my heart.  So many suffering people find themselves asking this very same question and fail to realize that they are pointing the blame in the wrong direction.  Her daughter is sick, my daugthter was sick, because of SIN!  Sin has polluted the world and corrupted our hearts.  Sin detroyed God's perfect creation and filled the world with death, disease, and every other known evil. 

The follow up question to the, "If God is good..." is usually, "Why doesn't God do something about it or why doesn't he heal my child?"  Hear me sweet friends, HE DID!  He sent is Son, Jesus the Christ, who conquered death and the evil one!  The victory celebration has been delayed so more people can be added to his kingdom.  In the meantime, we get to play a role in his kingdom plan.  "But, my child is still sick."  Yes, that's true.  Until Christ comes to claim his church and once and for all do away with sin, we have to live the reprecussions of The Fall.  BUT, a perfect, healthy, undefiled body is waiting for any who call on His name and repent.  (I personally believe this Grace is given to children, but that is more theology than I can discuss here).

Does this information make it easier when this mother watches her daughter fall to the floor, unconscientious.  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Does it make it easier when I sit at my child's graveside?  Sometimes.  Knowing God has already healed my daughter doesn't make me miss her less.  Knowing God has already set into motion a plan that will heal this world doesn't always make me feel better. BUT, most of the time it does!  The Holy Spirit never lets me forget, for too long, what Jesus did for me.

A person who is suffering will never find healing and peace by pointing the finger at God.  The culprit is sin.  Let's point the finger there.  Let's HATE sin.  Thankfully God and his Amazing Grace has already conquered evil!  How glorious the victory celebration will be when Jesus gathers together his saints.  Lilly and I will be among them. I am honored to have been called to the purpose for which God has called me--to play a role in the advancement of his kingdom.  It is full of pain and suffering, but it is also full of joy and grace. 

Emory Walking...again

Since my last post about Emory walking, I've caught her testing her new skills more often.  Now she will walk without our prompting when she is confident she can let go and make it to the next object in just a few steps.  Tonight at church Scott and I were able to encourage her to walk a little bit further than she is normally comfortable with.  I was so impressed!  This video is much better than the previous and really shows off her new ability :)


Even though I am so proud of her, I have absolutely cherished the amount of time she has spent scooting.  When Liberty started scooting we thought it was unique to her.  We had no idea until Emory starting doing it that it was actually a Haas family trait :).  I'm so glad I actually had the opportunity to enjoy this wonderfully unique characteristic this time around.  I guess this is true of so many things about Emory.  How precious to have my eyes truly opened to all the wonderful things I might have taken forgranted had it not been for my sweet Lilly.  I cherish the opportunity to take in so much more of both of my girls because I know how special each smile, each laugh, and each milestone truly is.

Thank you Lord for all three of my girls!

Just in case you haven't seen Emory scoot.  This is an older video though and she is much faster now!

The Orr Family Farm

Even though I hate the idea of winter, I love our Fall traditions.  The girls and I always go to a pumpkin patch in the Fall.  This year I wanted to go before it got too cold.  It was pretty easy this year considering our unseasonably warm weather.  This past Wednesday we visited the Orr Family Farm.  I was certain we had been before, but when we pulled up, I realized we hadn’t.  What a fun surprise.  We had so much fun!  The first thing we did was visit the petting zoo.  Emory loved it.  She wanted to kiss all the animals .

Liberty was so cute and festive in her pumpkin shirt and pink boots.

I love this one because it looks like she is just standing beside the sheep.  She is actually leaning against the stall wall.  So Sweet!

Liberty always loves the carousel.  I decided to ride with Emory as well.  Emory looks like such a big girl.  She is growing so very fast!  She thought it was very fun as long as I was standing with my arms around her.  Liberty also looks like such a big girl here. 

Next stop—pumpkin patch.  This is always one of Liberty’s favorite parts of Fall.  She loves getting her pumpkin.  She had in mind what the perfect pumpkin should look like.  She walked over the patch and then came back to the front where there were already cut pumpkins and found exactly what she was looking for.  Emory was also very excited about her little pumpkin.  You can’t tell in this picture, but I found Emory a very “special” pumpkin.  It is actually two little pumpkins that grew together.  Liberty thought this was so cool.

The jumping pillow was quite possibly the coolest thing I have ever seen.  We had so much fun.  All three of us jumped on it until we were too hot to jump anymore.  It was a blast!

I love these beautiful girls!

Emory is Walking!

She still isn't very good and she will only do it if we prompt her, but she CAN walk!  She has been able to make it half way across our dining room.  She can also stop and start going again.  When we are playing with her and walking her back and forth between us, she thinks its so funny.  She is still very unsure of herself and doesn't really attempt walking unless we are  with her and encouraging her.  Nonetheless, I am saying that at 15.7 months old Emory started walking :).  This video isn't great because I was trying to video and be prepared to catch her :).

Emory Ayn 15 months...ish

This update comes at a random time since Emory is 15.3 months old.  However, she is doing so many cute things lately that I just had to share.  One of my absolute favorites is that she has actually started trying to crawl.  I just think it is so funny and cute.  She actually started doing this a couple of months ago and practices randomly.  She is getting better and better but always reverts back to her "crawl" when she is tired of practicing :).



So, that brings us to the fact that she isn't walking yet.  I joke about it alot, but truly I am not worried at all.  I know she will do it when she is ready.  She is getting so much better and much more confident.  Just recently she has mastered pushing her train and grocery cart around.  This is quite an accomplishment since we have wood floors, which tends to make all of her toys roll much faster than she can walk.  It is oh so cute!



She is still just as funny as ever.  I think she really likes to hear herself laugh.  She is always doing things to make us laugh.  She has started playing peek-a-boo with us.  It is hilarious because when she yells "boo" she actually just screams at us.  Again, this leads us to the fact that she is also not talking.  She communicates with gestures and grunting (and sometimes a lot of screaming).  This leads me to believe she is very smart.  She knows exactly what she wants and how to tell us without using words at all.

She is sleeping much better these days.  She takes two naps a day and sleeps for at least an hour each time.  She is also sleeping better at night.  Even though she wakes up multiple times, she is usually able to put herself back to sleep and she rarely sleeps with us anymore.

She is also eating better than she has been.  She is completely off baby food (pureed stuff).  She refuses to eat it.  She primarily eats things she can feed herself.  This makes all of us happy :).

Her hair is growing so fast all of a sudden.  I can pull it up in little pig tails that are just too adorable.  Its almost too long for the one ponytail on top of her head.  It's starting to look a little crazy :).

She is still in a copycat phase that I'm sure will last a very long time.  She wants to do everything her big sister does.  She has also started pretending, which is priceless.

She LOVES stuffed animals.  Her favorite is a stuffed horse named Pig (I have no idea, Liberty named her).

She still LOVES her binky.  I have tried to limit how often she has it, but it has been a total failure.  She points and grunts for me to follow her until she has lead me to where it is and then "asks" me to get it for her.  She is so smart and cute I just can't resist.  I know I will pay for it later.

She is such a joy--perfect in every way :)!

Who made God?

This is a discussion that I have been having with Liberty lately.  The most recent conversation went like this...WARNING:  the following conversation contains highly intellectual and scientific content as well as deep spiritual and biblical insight!

Last night we were laying in bed and Liberty turned to me and said...

Liberty:  "Mom, I'm very confused."
Me:  "What are you confused about?"
Liberty:  "Well, I just don't understand who made God.  I'm mean, did someone else make him and if so, who made that person?"
Me:  "No one made God.  He has always existed." (See, deep spiritual insight).
Liberty:  "That is very confusing"
Me:  "You're right it is confusing." (Feel free to use that one on your own children if you find yourself in a similar conversation).
Liberty:  "Well, I just don't understand what everything was like before the Earth was made."
Me:  "It was all dark and God was just hanging out by himself." (Seriously, even I'm impressed with this answer).
Liberty: "I just don't understand."  (You can really see that I'm truly making a difference at this point).
Me:  "Maybe God was just sitting in Heaven before he created everything."
Liberty:  "But Mom, God CREATED Heaven.  The bible says so!"  (Ok, so she got me there, but can I at least take credit for teaching her the story of creation in school.)
Me:  "You're right.  You are very smart."

This seemed to be the end of the conversation because she didn't ask anymore questions and fell asleep.  I would like to think it was because she was deeply satified with my enlightened responses.  However, it is more likely she figured she could come up with something better on her own!

I love the my inquisitive little girl keeps me thinking and growing.  I don't always have the answer (or even a good guess), but we can figure it out together.

Trip to Texas

I am calling the month of September “Fall Break” due to the fact that we basically took the entire month off.  I know, most kids just started school and here I am already taking a break.  To my credit, we did start school in July, so I still think we are ahead of the game :).

This past week, the girls and I went to Texas to visit my parents.  We had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the farm—probably for the last time before cold weather comes.  We spent a ton of time outdoors and the weather couldn’t have been more beautiful.  One of Liberty’s fav things to do is ride horses.  She is finally old enough to ride by herself and she thinks she is such a big girl.  Emory didn’t know whether she liked it or not.  Nonetheless, I did manage to actually get her on the horse.  In addition to riding, my Dad also has a new horse drawn cart he bought from an Amish man a few weeks ago.  It is super fun and we all thought it was great!

Emory, Liberty, and Hannah

Papa’s new toy :)

We also just spent a lot of time playing on the ginormous swing set.  Emory has decided that she is big enough to slide by herself and it is absolutely priceless.  I wish I had better video of her actually going it alone, but here’s what I have.

Just having fun playing outside!

Seriously, aren’t these the cutest babies EVER!

 

 

 

One

One of the major highlights for Liberty was Nana and Papa’s new kittens.  You would think she doesn’t have a kitten of her own at home.  She carried those poor little things around for 4 days.  I’m sure they are thrilled to be free at last!

We got to spend lots of time with my sister (Amanda) and Hannah.  Hannah is such a big girl and about a million times more active than Emory (even though they are 4 months apart).  Emory was content to ride on her car while Hannah pushed her.  It was possibly the cutest thing ever.  Emory was actually being kind to Hannah at this point.  She still hasn’t worked out the whole sharing thing.

Liberty and Uncle Shane playing iPhone games

On Monday, we were home alone because everyone had to work.  We decided we would go to Rochester and visit Lilly’s sign (this is what Liberty calls it).  My parents just recently had some work done at the cemetery and I was anxious to see it.  They had concrete curbs poured around our family plot and had the granite markers set on the concrete.  It looked SO nice.  We also decorated Lilly’s tree for Fall.  We always have such a great time doing this.  It’s special for all of us to have something of Lilly’s to take care of.  Obviously Emory doesn’t have any idea what we are doing, but she has fun.  She loves opening and closing the little picture frame with Lilly’s picture in it :).  She will not grow up knowing her sister, but she will grow up having all the memories of decorating that little tree in honor of her sister.

  Thus ends our “Fall Break.”  We are back to it on Monday.  So thankful for our flexible schedule!

Lilly Thoughts

The day I have been dreading since Lilly went home has finally arrived.  Last week Liberty told me, "I don't really remember when we had Lilly."  It's not surprising.  I expected it, hence, the dread.  Liberty was only 2 when Lilly got sick and 3 when she died.  I knew she wouldn't be able to remember everything.  I guess I was just hoping she would be able to hang on to something.  The fact that she has no concrete memories of her sister doesn't distress her at all.  She is perfectly content to hear my stories about Lilly.  She can't be bothered with unrealistic expectations, like remembering life before the age of 4 :).  She is forever my little optimist when it comes to Lilly.  When I'm sad, she always reminds me that I will see her again soon and I still have pictures.  When I tell her that looking at a picture isn't the same as holding her, she simply replies, "you're right, but its ok." It's always been "ok" to Liberty.  She has never doubted in God's perfect plan for Lilly.  She has never been angry, confused, frustrated, or too sad.  She simply believes she will see her sister again and that is good enough for her.  Oh how I love love Liberty.  What would I do without her?  I always tell her that God knew how much I needed her and that is why he made her first.  It is so true!

Nonetheless, the fact that she can't remember anything really makes me sad.  She had a very special relationship with her sister. I guess in my mind it also brings up the possibility that I might start to forget things as well.  This, of course, is terrifying to me.  What if I can't remember what it felt like to hold her little hand, or what she smelled like, or what each little scar on her body looked liked? What if I forget how it felt to hold her in my arms, or how precious it was on those rare occasions when she opened her eyes, or how wonderful it was to kiss her perfect little lips.  I want to store these little treasures in my heart because they are all I have left of her.

I rarely get too down about all we have been through with our sweet girl.  I know it must seem crazy, but I honestly don't feel like I have too much to be sad about.  I miss Lilly terribly, but the challenges we faced and continue to face are precious to me.  God has used them to stretch and grow me in ways that I didn't know were possible and might not have been otherwise.  Yet, today I am sad.  I am sad because Liberty doesn't remember Lilly.  I am also sad because last night I sat in a room full of women who talked and shared about their amazing little ones.  I am incredibly blessed to know these women.  I am incredibly blessed to share in the struggles they have raising children with special needs.  I love that I have the opportunity to be a part of their lives and their children's lives, but last night I sat and listened to stories and all I could think about was the fact that I don't have any new stories.  Their lives are very difficult and stressful and I envied them because they still have their children.  I wished I could complain about doctors, bills, insurance, lack of sleep, and the million other things that come with raising a child with special needs because that would at least mean I still had my daughter.  I know, I feel horrified just writing it.  It is a completely selfish thought and not one I would truly act on even if I had the power. 

I know the sadness will pass.  I know God is always gracious to remind me of his plan and I am so very thankful for all 3 of my girls.

Visitors :)

We love it when my sister and her family come to visit us.  Liberty adores them, plus they always bring the cutest and newest addition to our family (Hannah) :).  We decided to take them to our new favorite family spot—the indoor pool in Kingfisher.  It’s only a 30 min drive from our house and it is so great.  Perfect for all of our little ones and no sunscreen needed!  This kids had a blast.  Emory and Hannah both love the water!Liberty and Hannah

After we ate, we attempted to take them to Eischen’s in Okarche but it was packed even though it was 2:30 in the afternoon.  We decided that the wait wasn’t going to work with 3 tired, hungry kiddos.  We ended up at Chuck House in Edmond and were not disappointed.  YUM!

We just hung out and visited the rest of the night while the kids played.  We have discovered that Emory doesn’t share very well.  She gets very frustrated when other little ones want to play with her toys.  She and Hannah are very close in age so I know they will be good friends (even if Emory is a little selfish right now).

Before they headed home, we went to the Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.  It was really beautiful and Liberty enjoyed it.  She LOVES looking at art and since its largely a gallery, she just thought it was great.

They have amazing gardens.  The kids really weren’t cooperative for pictures though.  We will have to go back and get better ones.

    

This was too adorable.  They all like sitting on the saddles.

We had a great time visiting and playing with all these little girls :).

Family Pictures

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Check out our new family pictures.  They are SO good.  My friend Lydia took them and it was so quick and easy.  Pictures can be so stressful.  It always seems like it is so much effort and trying to get both kids happy and looking at the camera at the same time takes a magician.  This time it couldn’t have been easier and I am so thankful.  It was at least a 100 degrees outside and Lydia managed to get all these shots in about 10 minutes!

I especially love the ones of the girls together.  They are so precious.  You can really tell how much they adore one another.  I also think Liberty looks like such a big girl.  Oh my goodness, it just took my breath away.  Where has the time gone?

There is also one of Emory where she is holding her arms up in her famous gesture.  I think it is absolutely priceless that Lydia captured this moment.  It is one of the cutest things Emory does right now.  It is her universal gesture.  She does it all the time.

Thanks Lydia!!