Thanks!

I just went through and updated the kids lists off to the right. Thanks to everyone for being both generous and respectful of our wishes. We were very happy to come home from Christmas and AJ's birthday party both with less stuff than we went with (for our house anyway - the pregnancy center will be thrilled with your generosity!)! The kids still love their new toys, VERY much appreciate their new clothes, and you've got a mama and daddy that are still mostly sane since we didn't have to find homes for a bunch of new "stuff" (or figure out what kind of "stuff" to buy for each of you - I hope the water buffalo fits you as well as it has fit us this Christmas)!

We and our kids are very blessed to have friends and family such as you who understand that love isn't measured by the number of gifts to be opened. As AJ is learning from his VeggieTales Saint Nicholas DVD (and hopefully from us as well), "I can love because God loved me, I can give because God gave. Jesus' love is why I'm smiling, why I'm giving ev'ryday!"

Here's to a new year! May it bring great joy, not necessarily because we get everything we want, but because we recognize that we have everything we need (and more) and can therefore give to others!

Christmas Day

For those of our loved ones who weren't with us this morning, here are a few pictures/videos of the kids this morning with their Christmas goodies.

AJ's "haul" - don't worry - he's sitting down!

AJ opening a gift

"Nooooooooo! Don't make me show off my new duds!"

Learning to unwrap

Learning to unwrap some more!

Not quite sure what it is

"Where's the baby?"

Cutest picture of all time

AJ opening a gift. One of these days I'll learn not to turn the camera. Or they'll build a camera that automatically adjusts or something.

Joanna opening a gift

Joanna's pretty bow

Tidmouth Sheds

AJ "driving" a MarioKart on Auntie's Wii

Merry Christmas!

Dear Friends and Family,

This year for Christmas, we decided that instead of more "stuff" for each of you who, like us, are insanely blessed, we'd use that money to bless someone who would otherwise not have anything by giving them an animal through Heifer, International.

Here's AJ to tell you which one we picked:

And here's Heifer's description of what a water buffalo will do for the family that is chosen:

Water Buffalo
Helping Hooves

A water buffalo can lead a hungry family out of poverty and give them a chance for a bright future filled with hope and free from hunger.

In poor Filipino villages, water buffalo from Heifer provide draft power for planting rice and potatoes, milk for protein and manure for fertilizer and fuel. A farmer can plant four times more rice with a buffalo than by hand.

Water buffalo haul heavy loads to the market, where the sale of extra produce brings in vital income for clothing, medicine and school. By renting their buffalo to neighbors, Heifer partner families can earn money for home improvements. And one day, those same neighbors might receive a water buffalo of their own as recipients pass on the gifts of animals and training.

Protein-rich milk, strength to till soil, manure to enrich the land ... so many benefits. And, in turn, water buffalo are happy just to graze on coarse grasses and other plants not suitable for harvesting.

My favorite thing about Heifer, International is that the gift is given with the stipulation that they then give _their_ first born female to another family, so this gift could potentially take not just a single family from poverty to being self-supporting, but an entire community!

We love you all and wish you the merriest of Christmases!

Glory to God in the highest and on Earth, peace, goodwill to men!

Clothes vs. Toys vs. ...

So my SIL (disguised as my BIL) commented on my "what to get my family for Christmas this year" post. Since she raised a question that I think applies to more than her (and since I wasn't sure that she'd get my response if I only replied in the comments), I thought I'd dedicate an entire post to the question.

Basically, she stated that it sounded from my post like I'd rather the kids get clothes than toys this year. While that's true for the most part, it doesn't really capture all that's behind the scenes in that post. And since I think people think that I'm either:
a) overly-protective
b) overly-controlling
c) crazy
d) weird
e) all of the above
I wanted to explain a bit...

You see, my kids don't _need_ anything this year - they don't even really _want_ much (especially Joanna - pretty much you feed her, change her, let her sleep, and play with her occasionally and she's good). Plus, we live in a VERY SMALL condo that's already stuffed to overflowing with four people, a cat, a 55-gallon fish tank, a piano, and all the "stuff" that goes with all of that. At this point, more stuff is pretty much one of the largest sources of stress for (and between) me and VNB. Couple that with the fact that we both scored amazingly low (as in, I got a 0 and he got a 2, I think) on "Gift-giving" as our love language, and getting gifts just isn't important to us.

On the other hand though, we recognize that gift-giving is one way that people _OTHER_ than ourselves show us how much they love us and our kids and we don't want to completely take away that source of fulfillment for them. Nor do we want to deprive our kids of the "fun" of Christmas/birthdays (although we also don't want them to _expect_ gifts, but rather be grateful for any that come).

So, my solution thus far has been to post/email a list of the things that can be given to us which will make us (me) the least crazy while giving the most joy to (or meeting the thing that comes closes to a need for) the kids. Giving them a new VeggieTales DVD, for instance, will still add to the stuff that we have, but it will also give us another viewing option for when we're watching kids DVDs All. Day. Long. So I think the amount of craziness equals out. And while I really have no idea where we'd permanently store a board game for AJ, I also know that those will help him learn to count, which is rather high on my "to do" list at the moment (right now he can get to "eleben" sometimes).

But really, what would I _RATHER_ they have? I'd rather they get something small and you either give the rest of the money you would have spent to someone who really needs it, you save it (or give it to us to save) for someday when they want a car or to go to college or something. The kids aren't going to miss it either way.

The problem is going to come in when we have a bigger place (so I don't have that excuse anymore), but I still don't really want to them/us get any more stuff . We live in such a consumer culture. I _WANT_ my kids to learn to live simply (and _I_ want to be able to live simply) a) so that others might "simply live" (i.e., so that we can give more away), and b) so that they can learn from the beginning that gifts are something not that they are entitled to, but something which are completely unnecessary expressions of love and which should be accepted with gratitude, not expectation.

So that's what's going on in my head. Scary place, huh? It's not that we're ungrateful for any gift you would give us...I just want to maximize the joy it brings to us since I know that will maximize the joy you get in giving it.

Christmas, 2009 (and Birthdays, 2009 and 2010!)

Ok, so this post is primarily for our families, so both of you who read this who are not related to me or VNB can ignore this.

We're still REALLY cramped for space, so PLEASE do not give us a lot of stuff. The kids really do have (more than) enough toys.

I've listed their current and upcoming clothing, etc. needs here (AJ and Joanna), and will do my best to keep those updated. I'll put a link over on the sidebar so that way you _should_ be able to just click the link at any time to see what they need, clothes-wise, and what sizes they are (I'll include the date they were last updated in the link title).

If you _do_ buy them toys/DVDs, here is what we have of the Thomas stuff, and here is our current DVD selection. I listed what we _have_ so that it only needs to be updated when they get something new, not every time the companies come out with another something. About the only other brand we're loyal to is Lego/Duplo (i.e., no MegaBlocks, please!). I'd really rather limit the number of "character" things they have, so even though AJ loves "Cars" and lots of other things, try to limit licensed merchandise to Thomas and VeggieTales, please!

AJ is also starting to get into board games. We have "The Ladybug Game" already, but wouldn't mind some of the basic counting/colors games like Chutes and Ladders and CandyLand. I would swear that at one point I saw a "classic" version of CandyLand in Target in a sturdy wooden box that I would FAR prefer to the current version, but I can't find it anywhere, so maybe I was dreaming.

We're pretty maxed out on books (sadly).

For me, I'm going to be getting a set of these (any brand would do as long as it's good quality and dual-driver). You're welcome to contribute to the cause. Alternate ideas would be iTunes gift cards, any Hillsong United CD, either of Michael W. Smith's last two albums (Stand or A New Hallelujah), or Matt Redman's latest (We Shall Not Be Shaken).

For VNB...I think I know what _I'm_ getting him, but I've got nothing to help you out at the moment. Sorry! This is the local train store where he likes to shop, but I don't since my college stalker works there. We don't have the new Star Trek yet though.

Also, one thing that we both want that we _do_ have a little space for would be more of our china. We'd love to end up getting 12 place settings, but we currently only have four. Macy's has finally closed our wedding registry (the gall - it's only been four years!), but the pattern is available lots of places and all that we have is the four place settings. Random other pieces would be welcome as well, but I think we'd rather get the place settings first. The pattern is called Silver Palace and is by Noritake. Here is Noritake's link.

FYI - we're probably getting AJ a toddler digital camera this year for Christmas/Birthday

AJ's Clothing Info

AJ's pretty well set for the winter now (thanks everyone!).

If you do see anything you want to buy him, he's currently in 3T clothes, although any PJs that are bought now should probably be 4Ts. I don't know his current foot size (bigger than 7s, that's for sure!). Next time we're at a store with a foot measuring thingy, I'll try to remember to measure his feet.

Looking ahead:
- He's got lots of short-sleeved shirts (mostly 2Ts), but only a few pairs of shorts (all 2T)
- "Balance bike" (not now, wait till we have a house with a place to put it, please)

(updated Jan. 4, 2010)

Joanna's Clothing Info

Joanna's pretty well set for winter (thanks!). But just in case you find something adorable, she's currently in 9-mo stuff, although 12-mo stuff doesn't quite fall off of her anymore. Since she's really learning to walk right now, I'd rather her be barefoot, so no shoes, please!

Looking Ahead:
- A forward-facing car seat (theoretically she could have this by the end of the year, but there's no way she'll weigh enough by then). We'll probably buy it from Babies 'R Us, so a giftcard could be designated for this purpose.
- Shoes for spring/summer (no idea what size at this point, but probably size 1 or 2) - sandals, "church" shoes, and maybe sneakers.

Please avoid pink, especially in the shirt. I don't mind accents, but I'd rather the base color not be pink.

(Updated Jan. 4, 2010)

Thomas Trains We Have

AJ is a HUGE fan of Thomas the Tank Engine and all of his friends. We therefore have ended up with quite the collection of Thomas train cars. We ONLY collect the wooden railway series, so don't buy it if it says any of the following: TrackMaster; Die Cast Metal; or Take Along!

These are the engines that we have:
- Thomas (plain - two - one with a band-aid holding on his face)
- Mud Covered Thomas
- Easter Thomas
- Sir Handel
- Peter Sam
- Percy (came with the Easter Thomas set)
- Lights and Sounds Percy (2 of them)
- Lady
- (Repaired) Hiro
- James
- Psalty
- Mighty Mac (hasn't been seen in a while)
- Gordon
- Henry (hasn't been given to AJ yet)

Other cars that we have:
- Trevor the Tractor
- Terrence the Tractor
- Annie & Clarabel
- Troublesome Trucks (we have the giggling one in hand right now, but I think I've seen the non-giggling one recently)
- Musical Caboose
- Aquarium Cars (Shark and Octopus Cars)
- Winter Caboose
- Milk Barrel Car & Cow Car
- Cherry Picker & Spotlight Lorry (What? They're British!)
- Sodor Zoo Cars (from a different series, but they work in a pinch - have the Lion car in hand at the moment, haven't seen the monkeys in a while)
- Express Coaches
- Harold the Helicopter
- Chicken Cars
- Two plain wooden freight cars that came with the Easter Thomas set

"Sets" that we have:
- Roundhouse (non-deluxe)
- Stacking Risers
- Suddery Swing Bridge
- Round-About Action Turntable

Other cars that we've had in the past, but may or may not still be in our possession:
- Toby (been MIA for quite a while - at this point, we're declaring him officially gone)
- Terrence the Tractor (I've seen him recently)
- Non-giggling troublesome truck
- Sodor Zoo Monkey car

(Updated Apr. 7, 2010)

Kids DVDs We Have

There's actually a method to my madness here, I'm not just posting something completely random.

VeggieTales:

- The Ballad of Little Joe

- An Easter Carol

- Esther
- Gideon: Tuba Warrior

- Heroes of the Bible (Daniel, Dave & the Giant Pickle, Esther)
- LarryBoy & the Fib From Outer Space

- LarryBoy & the Rumor Weed

- Lessons From the Sock Drawer

- Lyle the Kindly Viking
- Madame Blueberry

- Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah's Umbrella

- Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Sampson's Hairbrush

- Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving
- Sheerluck Holmes and the Golden Ruler

- Sing Alongs: Dance of the Cucumber

- Sing Alongs: I Can Be Your Friend

- Sing Alongs: I Love My Lips

- A Snoodle's Tale

- The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown
- Very Silly Songs

- Where's God When I'm Scared?

- The Wonderful Wizard Of Ha's

Thomas:

- Come Ride the Rails

- Free Sampler DVD: Fun With Thomas, Two Thomas Adventures

- Hero of the Rails

- It's Great to be an Engine!

- Milkshake Muddle

- Team Up With Thomas
- 10 Years of Thomas

- Thomas and the Magic Railroad

- Ultimate Christmas

Full Length Features:

- The Adventures of Milo and Otis

- Alice in Wonderland (Disney animated version)
- Babe (VHS)

- Cars

- Finding Nemo

- Ice Age (VERY scratched)

- Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
- Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

- The Lion King (Disney)
- Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa
- Monsters, Inc.

- Muppets from Space (VHS)
- Robin Hood (Disney animated version - VHS)
- Shark Tale

Other:

- Awesome Animals in the Bible
- Awesome Mysteries of the Bible
- DangerMouse Seasons 1-4
- Darkwing Duck: Volume 1 (3-DVD Boxed Set)

- Elmo's World: Birthday, Games & More!

- Elmo's World: Flowers, Bananas & More!

- Elmo's World: Head to Toe With Elmo!

- Hermie: A Common Caterpillar (It's About Being Special)
- Psalty's Praise Party Two!

- Psalty's Songs for Li'l Praisers
- What's in the Bible? With Buck Denver DVD #1: In the Beginning
- What's in the Bible? With Buck Denver DVD #2: Let My People Go
- The World's Greatest Bible Stories & Songs: Daniel in the Lions' Den

- The World's Greatest Bible Stories & Songs: David & Goliath
- The World's Greatest Bible Stories & Songs: The Story of Jesus

(Updated Apr. 8, 2010)