Our little Evangelist

Today over lunch Taylor tells me "I don't think my teacher knows about Jesus."
To which I reply, "Why do you think that?"
Taylor: "Well, she just never talks about him." (Hmm, how many of us ADULTS claim to know Jesus but we just never talk about him, chew on that.)
I then try to explain to her that even though her kindergarten is on the same campus as her Christian preschool this school isn't allowed to teach about the Bible. So her teacher might know about Jesus, she just isn't allowed to teach about Him.
Taylor was appalled! She says, "That is such a bad rule! We should just break that rule and tell them that they don't need that rule because the Bible is a VERY important book." She continues with "I know! I will tell my teacher everything I know about Jesus so that she will know and then she won't get in trouble because I will be teaching about Him! Then, when I get older, I will study and learn more and more about Him and tell her that too!"
Then she asks, "Will I get in trouble for that mom?"
To which I just reply, "No baby. You tell anyone you want about Jesus."
Still shocked by this 'rule' she says, "I bet that rule makes God very sad because He wants people to learn more about Him."

This whole conversation I pretty much just let her talk to see where she would go with it and how she would respond. I must say, if we all had the passion and urgency that our Taylor girl has in spreading the gospel things would look a LOT different!

Let your little light shine baby girl! Public school or not, people NEED Christ and she gets that.

(Side note: The property RIGHT next to our church building a Muslim prayer center is being built.) A while back, out of her typical curiosity she asked what they are building. We explained to her what it is and what will be going on there. She then asked if we could get up early the next morning to go talk to them to tell them about Jesus so that they can stop praying to the wrong god and so they can know God. I explained that right now it is just the construction workers there, the people that will be praying there aren't there yet since the building isn't finished.
She replied so matter of factly, "Well, do the construction people need to know about Jesus?"

This girl isn't 5 yet Ya'll! She is on mission to tell everyone she meets whatever she knows about Jesus. She knows she still has a lot to learn about Him but that doesn't stop her. She will share every bit that she does know and as she learns more, she'll share that too.
This is such a perfect picture of that child-like faith Jesus spoke about. Such a challenge and inspiration to us to just share whatever we do know, even if we don't know it all. Because guess what, NO ONE knows all there is to know about God (in case you didn't already know that) ;). So just share what you do know and let God take care of the rest!

 Lets all take a few lessons from Taylor: defy the rules and tell the world about Jesus!

In Awe

As usual, the summer has passed in a hot blur. Although it has been loaded with tons of fun, adventures, vacation, birthdays, re-uniting with long time friends, visits with family, fun ministry opportunities, etc. I have failed to blog about any of it. Purely out of simply not taking the time to do it. So for anyone out there that has been eagerly awaiting to know what has been going on in the lives of the Mahaffie's, I am so sorry to let you down. We are busy as usual. However, I am not going to use this posting to catch you up on the past 2 months of our lives. I may eventually get pictures up of some of our adventures, we will just have to see how that goes.

Dan and I have been meaning to go through a DVD series we purchased a while back on parenting. Tonight we finally cracked open the case and watched the first session. In the brief 25 minute long session God showed me once again how I let my busyness and task oriented self get in the way of giving my best to my kids. Not because I am ignoring my children in order to get stuff done (God revealed that major area of sin a while back and I refuse to go back). Rather, I am failing to see God in the mundane tasks of everyday life, therefore I fail to show my kids the awe of God in every aspect of our lives. I came across this little story in a book I am reading and I think it will better illustrate what I am trying to say:

 "The story is told of three women washing clothes. A passerby asks each what she is doing.

'Washing clothes' was the first answer.

'A bit of household drudgery' was the second.

'I'm mothering three young children who some day will fill important and useful spheres in life, and wash-day is a part of my grand task in caring for these souls who shall live forever' was the third."

How often do I look at laundry in the way the third woman responded? Hmmm, wanna guess? My response in usually the first and on a grumpy day probably the second. I include my kids in household duties like laundry and such for a few reasons but I don't always see laundry as an opportunity to point my children to the awe of our God.

I am not writing all of this to say woe is me, I'm a bad mama for not doing these things. I am writing this in excitement and hopefully as a challenge to anyone that may read it. How much more exciting will our days and "tasks" be when we choose to see everything, I mean everything, we do as an opportunity to point our kids to Christ. How much more naturally the gospel flows into conversation rather than coming up with these great theological speeches that leave the 4 year old looking at you like you are speaking a foreign language.

So tomorrow when we all rise and shine early to take Taylor to her first day of Kindergarten (Yippee! and *sniff* already?! all at the same time) I look forward to using my to-do list as opportunities to leave my kids in awe of the grandeur and amazement of our creator.

So the next time you are turning those socks right side out because for some reason NO ONE else seems to know how to do that when they take them off, use the opportunity to thank God for each one the feet that wear those socks, pray for them, make a matching game out of it with your kids, use examples of feet in scriptures (washing of feet, how beautiful are the feet of those that bring good news, etc). God is in the mundane, we just fail to see Him in it therefore we fail to leave our kids in total awe of Him daily.

All of that to say, I am actually a bit excited to do laundry tomorrow and the rest of the things that I have on my list. It's going to be an awe-some day!

The Graduate

Taylor with her teachers, Miss Lori and Miss Rochelle. (Miss Lori is in the middle of saying "kindergarten", sorry about that Lori)

As previously blogged about, Taylor attended Pre-K this past school year. Well, let me just tell you, her pre-school wants them to know just how big of an accomplishment that is. They went all out!  On the last day of school they had a family BBQ at lunch. That same evening was the 'graduation ceremony'. We decided to make an event of it and invite the great grandparents, have a celebration dinner, etc. Then off to the ceremony we went. I must say it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen! The class all walked in to the adorably decorated auditorium to "Pomp and Circumstance" (which for some reason triggered the mommy tears, she's only 4 for goodness sake. Get it together Carrie!) Once they were all seated on the stage they did the pledge of allegiance and then Taylor did the opening prayer (which again, made Mama choke up a little. I know, I'm a mess!). After that they performed a couple songs and memory verses, showed a slide show of the kids and then presented them all with their 'diplomas'. When they called each child up to receive their diploma they asked them what they want to be when they grow up. There will be no shortage of princesses and super heroes let me tell you. Taylor decided that she wants to be a doctor. That is a large career jump from her last declaration of wanting to be the tooth fairy. It was a really fun evening. Below are pictures of the days festivities. Mostly for family that couldn't be there but enjoy none the less.



Gift time after our family homemade lasagna dinner. Class of 2011 Minnie Mouse.




Yes, my 4 year old has a newer computer than I do. She was given a kids Toshiba laptop (not by mom and dad). She is so excited! She loves it!




Pledge of allegiance. (not sure I like how the little boy next to her is checking her out)




When did she get so grown up?!




Opening prayer.




Telling the crowd what she wants to be when she grows up: a doctor.




The family minus Cameron (he was a disaster so our favorite Sally watched him for us)




Grandma and Grandpa Mahaffie




TOG (The Other Grandparents) Donnie and Juanita Land (Taylor lovingly refers to Donnie as her worst nightmare. They just have that kind of relationship. He loves it!)




Great Grandma and Grandaddy Russell

 So proud of our little graduate. Just think, in 13 years we can do it all over again! I am pretty sure there will be A LOT more mommy tears that day.

Movin' on up!

(Don't be misled by the title, I am not referring to actually moving into a house of our own.)

Dan and I have known that we want a big family since before we were married. After Cameron was born I 'decided' that I am done with pregnancies because pregnancy and I don't get along. At all. Dan and I have always had a huge passion for orphans and adopting so we have been focusing on growing our family in that direction. Well, His ways are not my ways and for that I am thankful. Come January, the Mahaffie family will be welcoming our newest addition into the world. That's right, we are pregnant! And I do say WE because when I am pregnant the whole family feels it in some fashion. Whether it is just not being able to play as long because I am just so tired or because I can't cook certain foods anymore unless I want to be sick from the smells. Either way, it is a family event for us.
When I first realized that we are expecting this little one, I will be honest, I wasn't looking forward to the challenges pregnancies bring. That same day, I was driving home after picking Taylor up from pre-school and we are going through the "what did you learn today" talk. She tells me "Today I learned 'Children are a gift from the Lord." At that point she didn't know about the baby. I just laughed and said "OK God, I needed that. Thank you for all three of my amazing gifts!"
So there it is folks. The Mahaffie's are Movin' on up to a family of 5! With hopes to still adopt someday. But first we need to work on this whole housing thing. The state gets a little picky about wanting you to actually have your own home before they let you adopt. What's that all about? ;)

The Farm Hand

Taylor has had the amazing opportunity to attend a wonderful preschool this year here in town. It is a great, Christian preschool with loving staff whom all posses an amount of patience that can only be explained as divine. But what makes Taylor's preschool amazing to us is knowing that two of our cherished church members work there. Not only does this help mommy in the letting go process but it also gives us a set of eyes and ears on the inside. The stories they come back with about things Taylor has said and done...oh my! I think it was just this past week she couldn't be interrupted at recess because she was busy getting married to her BFF Kaden of course. That girl...

Anyway, that isn't the point of this post. Throughout the year, Taylor's amazing and super fun preschool has hosted fun events for the kids and their families. A few weeks ago they had "Farm Day" come to the school. It was so stinking cute! Here are a few pictures of Farm Day for your viewing pleasure.



"Milking" a cow.





Making butter. Shake shake shake!






Eating the butter she just made.






Shucking corn (which later was cooked and served with lunch).






Ta Da!






Planting wild flowers...



...and watering them of course.



Finger painting chocolate pudding "mud" on pigs.



Meeting a real live calf (no milking involved this time).



Witnessing Nanny the goat being milked. Check out Taylor's stance, she's into it!






So I'm not an expert on the matter but I'm pretty sure this is a donkey ride rather than a "pony ride". Still fun either way.






Cam got the actual pony ride. He was pretty pumped!






And to top it all off, a tractor ride!

 That was Taylor's day as a "farm hand" at preschool. Blessed we were able to be a part of it with her.
On a side note, anyone in the Manteca area looking for a GREAT preschool for ages 2-Pre K, Manteca Christian Preschool on Button Ave is the place to be! (I am not being paid to say this I promise! We just love her school.)

Cameron Kingston

Cameron turns 2 in three weeks. So hard to believe. I know, everyone tells you "they grow up so fast", "enjoy the moments because they are gone way too fast", and so forth. As a mom with little ones, you just politely smile and nod and think to yourself that you will NEVER be done with spit up and explosive diapers. But as we are all finding out on our own, it truly does go by way too fast. We still hold on the the little things that remind us of when they were itty bitty. Sometimes it's using the baby scented lotion as long as we can because we just LOVE that sweet smell as we snuggle with a book after bath time. Other times it's leaving the baby curls as long as possible until one day you realize they are long enough to braid.

We are still enjoying the sweet baby lotion smell during after bath snuggles. But as for the long baby curls, well, those are no longer with us.

My aunt has been doing hair in Orange County longer than I have been alive. She is amazing. She is the only person I trust to cut my hair and my kids hair. Well, I was looking at the boys hair starting to curl INTO his ears I looked at the calendar and realized it will be several weeks before I make a trip down to see my amazing aunt. So, being the smart woman I am, I took matters into my own hands. I decided to cut the cute, long, blond curls myself. I know, at this point, anyone reading this is wincing because you all know what happens next. My poor beautiful, handsome boy received his first REALLY BAD haircut. In my defense, he is a moving target that WILL NOT sit still. Knowing this I decided to do it in the bath while he was distracted with bath toys. Didn't matter, he was still all over the place. And his haircut reflected that. Cameron couldn't care less personally. He had no clue what was going on up top. I, on the other hand knew the extent of my actions and was fearful of daddy coming home to see what I had done. Dan was very nice and gracious about the whole thing. He said, "Well, it isn't long and in his ears anymore. It doesn't look that bad." Then, the more he looked at it, the more he realized the extent of the damage.

Watching the happy little boy run around with a messed up dome finally got to Dan. So tonight, Dan took matters into his own hands. He brought out the clippers. I thought for sure the noise would make our sensitive boy cry in a second (this is the kid that cries every time Dan blows his nose. He HATES big noises.) He did surprisingly well. He just buried his little face into my chest and waited for it to be over. A few minutes later as Cameron and I sat there with the last of his sweet little blond baby curls now laying on my lap I realized: as much as I want to hold onto the baby moments, he is turning into the big boy. And now he has the studly, big boy hair cut to prove it.

I am officially resigning my hair cutting shears and leaving the job to those with real talent in that area. I am so sorry Aunt Mary that I didn't wait for you! I learned my lesson at my poor Cam's expense.

Also, to reserve Cameron's dignity, I did not take any pictures of the REALLY BAD haircut. Sorry if that disappoints anyone.

Next on the list to prove his big boy status: potty training! Just wait until VBS is over little Cam. It's you, me and the potty (and treats for bribing of course)!

Tom's

Again, I realize I am way behind the times on this one too. My beautiful and smart sister has been telling me for a while now how amazing Tom's shoes are. I finally heeded her advice and ordered my first pair (and a pair of pink glitter ones for Taylor!). I am super excited but this news isn't really blog worthy. The real reason I am posting this is for fellow Tom's shoes lovers. I found an online coupon code for $5 off Tom's shoes. $5 isn't a ton of money buy hey, every little bit helps! If any of you are in the market for a new pair of great, comfy and globally friendly shoes, check out the coupon code here: http://www.mommymatter.com/toms-shoes-coupons/ . For those that don't know about Tom's shoes, they are really a great company. For every pair of shoes that is purchased, they donate a pair to kids in countries in need. They call it "One for One". You can get more details on that on their website: http://www.toms.com/
Enjoy!

A Magical Day

Preface: This post is mainly to share pictures with family that are not local, but please enjoy none the less.

As previously mentioned a few posts ago, the kids and I went to Disneyland & CA Adventure with my family. However, I only posted pictures of Taylor with the princesses in that post. So here are a few more pictures from our magical day.
Side note: there are not a ton of  pictures with a happy Cameron because he was having an "I only want mommy to hold me all day" kind of day. I got my share of snuggles that day for sure. I will take them any chance I get!

Winnie the Pooh wasn't out to take pictures with so we borrowed his spot.

The kids with Nana getting ready for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Cameron was in heaven! He LOVES Winnie the Pooh!

Taylor was having a grouchy moment and didn't want to meet Goofy, Cameron was pretty pumped though!



So neither of my kids really look at the camera when you want them to...




This is inside the Playhouse Disney Live show, I wasn't really supposed to be using my camera so that is why the picture is a little fuzzy and sideways. But she was having so much fun dancing!





The one of a kind, Taylor Mahaffie action figure. Sorry, not for sale.




This is how excited Cameron was about having lunch with the Princesses...







Trevor and Nana on Casey Jr. Circus Train.




This train ride gets pretty wild I guess...





Super excited to ride her favorite ride, Thunder Mountain!




Somehow this is the only picture I got of my beautiful sister that day...I failed!




Not really sure what Taylor is trying to do here but Cameron doesn't seem to mind regardless.

 

...and they crashed!

  We had a super fun day. But that is expected when you spend the day at "the happiest place on earth" right?

Life through the eyes of Taylor

This past week Taylor has had a big interest in using my camera to take pictures by herself. We just have a basic 'point and shoot' camera so it works out well. She has actually taken some really good pictures (at least I think so, I know those that are photography savvy might not agree entirely).

And since we have had such great weather this past week, we have been outside every chance we get.

So, Taylor's new found photography interest + a lot of outdoor time= a post of outdoor pictures taken by Taylor!

(except for the above picture, I took that one). Enjoy.




New meaning to 'sand castle'.





Strawberry plants in our new little garden.

                                             

Her foot (with super sweet Band-Aids of course).



Maple Leaf.



One of her favorite places to be when outside.

 

Not a very willing subject. He is saying "Stop!"

Cameron showing his excitement in the progress of our garden.



  



Watch out world!




The deepest brown eyes I have ever seen!

 So there you have it. Not bad for a four year old just walking around the backyard with a camera!