Happy New Year!

In memory of 2010, I thought I would compile some of Joseph's quotes over the past year.  I'm pulling quotes from Facebook....Here goes nothing....Okay, so It's July - December...another post later to do the first 6 months of 2010!

7/4/2010 - "Why do cows carry their pink milk bag under their butt??"

7/5/2010 - "I'm being patient mommy, but pleeeeeease hurry up!!"

7/14/2010 - "Does Jesus wear underwear?"

7/30/2010 - "I'm just a little guy but when I'm a grow-up I want to be a teacher."

8/11/2010 - "Hey, who drank my water from this wattle boter"!!

9/11/2010 - "you're the best mama I never had...and you're beautiful and special."

10/28/2010 - "'but' with 2 T's is ugly.  Let me explain it to you mamma.  'But' I want bananas is nice.  'Butt' the one I point to is ugly words."

11/18/2010 - "So let me start by saying that Joseph is IN LOVE with the NorthWood Worship CD.  He loves Feet That Move, or as he calls it the 'home makeover song'.  He knows it all by heart and requests it EVERY time we get in the car and hears another song on.

On the way home from school, he told me he wanted to learn the other songs too.  So turned it to my favorite, #10, Psalm 46.  I start singing and Joseph says, "Mommy, you have a pretty voice."  (which was nice, b/c sometimes he says, 'mommy don't sing!!') He then says, "When you have a pretty voice, it's a gift from God."  "This is a gift from God right now."   Next, Joseph wanted to know what "Be Stealin no" meant.  So I had to explain that it was really, "Be still and know" and do my best to explain that when things seem really busy around us, we can stop and know that God will take care of us.  Then I had to explain what "God is my fortress" means.  I did my best to explain, but it's hard to put into words concepts that are more felt than understood.  He's keeping me on my toes and I LOVE it!!"

12/8/2010 - JOSEPH ASKED JESUS IN HIS HEART TODAY!

12/9/2010 - Joseph while spelling on the fridge: "Dillon has equal parts in his name as my name.  He has 6 letter and I have 6 letters."

12/10/2010 - "Momma, what does pretty mean?  Is it kinda like beautiful but it means not as beautiful? so Momma, I call you beautiful because you're lots a lots a beautiful."

12/11/2010 - Joseph randomly started singing: "Pants on the ground, pants on the ground.  Gotta go to school with your pants on the ground."

12/26/2010 - Joseph just prayed "Jesus help me change the world".

Merry Christmas

10:00 pm on Christmas Eve...Christmas eve service - check, dinner with family - check, new Christmas pj's on - check, cookies for Santa left - check, stockings stuffed - check, presents wrapped - check, parents exhausted - check....

This Christmas seems busier than ever.  I think it's sad to say, but maybe not, that until this year (our 5th Christmas together), we haven't really established any family traditions around different holidays.  Maybe it was because Joseph was so young it didn't really matter, or maybe it was because we didn't know what to start, regardless, we found ourselves this year scratching our heads trying to decide what we wanted to do each year as traditions.  It was actually kind of fun.  It brought back lots of memories from my childhood.  So here's what we came up with...
 - Open a gift on Christmas Eve (will always be pj's or something of the sort)
 - Make a White (to symbolize Jesus' pureness at birth) Birthday cake for Jesus and sing happy birthday
 - Leave cookies and milk for Santa

Yes, this is Joseph's first time to talk to Santa and tell him what he wants.  It's his first time to leave cookies for Santa (gasp!!!).  It's his first time really picking out gifts for mommy and daddy.  It's Joseph first Christmas to do lots of 'Christmasy' things around town.  It's a landmark Christmas.  I think that it wasn't until this age that Joseph really got things like this.  Last year we didn't play up anything big.  I don't think he really knew that he could go somewhere (mall, bass pro) and talk to Santa.  We didn't make a big deal about it and last year, his school didn't really either.

Happy Birthday Jesus and Merry Christmas.  May your time with family and friends be filled with Joy!

Here it is

This is it.  This is the Pafford blog as told by me, Jodi.  I've tried this once before and gave up 2 weeks later.  My hope is to keep this going as a permanent record of our lives.  My hope for this blog is that it will bring encouragement, hope and laughter to those around me and those who chose to follow.  This is my life lived out....