One Christmas Photo...

If I had to choose one photo to sum up Christmas this year it would be this one...

Also, I thought it would be fun to show you what I posted on xanga on this same day in 2003... i went to the airport today. yeah. crenshaw- you should be an actor jessica-you rule at war and im glad you are my best friend peeps-dont talk to me about mafia...it makes me mad. jon- take the hat off...you bed head is amazing. victoria-hahaha. i'm glad you dont have the flu anymore kelly-do you have to flu? kyle-i'm praying for you. griggs-when are you coming to fayetteville? booch-i miss studying for calc with you. mal-i miss you sooooo much. missy- i got you message a bit late...i still wanna hang out but im about to go out of town :o( chris huff- sorry for destroying the perfect donut jessica has never pooped her pants!!! let's play mafia.

A Most Awkward Christmas Run...

So things started getting a little unusual when I went into Kroger to get some groceries (obviously) and heard Christmas music playing way to loud. Then as I walked behind the Starbucks stand I see that there is a guy playing the piano to the awfully loud Christmas music. It made me want to smile and I tried to hold it in…which, in turn, made me laugh out loud. Anyway, on to the real story.

So, after I get the kids to bed I decided to go on a run, because, strangely enough, it was 60 degrees. Now it was about 9:15 at night and I have a nice 1.2 mile loop that I run (hopefully more than once) so that I don’t venture to far from the house since it is late at night.  I do bring my cell phone and my ferocious dog with me just in case, but don’t worry I have taken self-defense and I have watched karate kid more than once. I have been considering running it the opposite way that I normally do because I imagine it will be like in MarioKart64 when you beat all of the levels you get a new cup that is the mirror image of all of the others…it’s mind blowing.  I didn’t see a single soul on the run. I did however see plenty of Christmas lights which was a nice, but also strange change of scenery. Which leads me to make a list of the most scary Christmas decorations to see on a jog at night by yourself…

1.  Two red candy canes at the porch entrance…the rest of the house was completely unlit…more like an entrance to hell than a “Merry Christmas” and one was a little crooked…which was weird.
2. Small Mr and Mrs. Clause swinging in a red swing. Only thing in the yard.
3. An inflatable frosty that has fallen over sideways…he is still smiling…it’s just weird.
4. There was a huge train inflatable… you may have seen one of these before…it has the cookie monster on it. Well, seems harmless until out the caboose pops a jack in the box that is an awkward looking kid!! I about pooped my pants.
5. No Christmas lights or lights period…it’s just dark and scary.

This leads me to a short discussion on Christmas inflatable’s. They can’t be cheap…right? Someone had five…FIVE in their yard. That had to have taken all of their savings. PLUS how much does it cost per hour to run those suckers?? It sounded like a plane was taking off in their front yard. Just curious.

After thinking about Christmas lights I saw a possum run across the street and I kid you not people when I tell you that that is the first time I have seen one alive. It made me laugh and then feel kind of nauseous and then I felt like it was following me.

Now to the strangest part of all… I was about 19 minutes and 38 seconds into the run when at the top of the hill lights start flashing that lit the entire sky. It was a bluish green light. I don’t know what the source was, but then all of the power went out on the street…houses and everything. I thought it was the end. I was prepared for the end of the world. I turned around and started running home. Called Jon and he said that the power was still on at our house and then the power came back on the street I was on. So false alarm on the end of the world thing. Merry Christmas, right?

Thank You Cards

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The Mommy and Riley Show...

Riley and I have a show now. This is the pilot episode...
Please forgive the singing and the poor webcam quality...

Get Your Christmas Card On...

So, Christmas is coming up and we are about to have our pictures taken by one of my favorite photographers...Brenna Woods. Obviously I have already started looking for a Christmas card on Shutterfly! When looking for the right Christmas card I try to find something I like (duh) and I imagine it on the fridge and think...does it stand out. Find your favorite card by clicking here. I am not gonna lie...this was a difficult task because Shutterfly has a ton to choose from but this is my favorite right now:

I love the bold colors and the fun design. I might try to find one similar to this, but that allows a couple more photos. It is so easy to use shutterfly to imput images and change the wording of the card. I used Shutterfly last Christmas and for Jeremiah's birth announcments. They both turned out beautifully and they came in quickly and who doesn't love receiving a photo card!  Also, if you want to share the good news they have a great Christian card selection here.
On top of their good prices Shutterfly is offering 20% off holiday cards! Click here to check it out!
Ok, now I am officially ready to start decorating :)

The Votes are in...

So the poll is closed after a whopping 10 votes and it looks like "Tomboy" took it by 50%.
Here you go people...this will be the last song post for awhile so enjoy. By the way, we are totally ok with Justin Beiber (I hope I spelled that right I always feel weird putting "e" before "i" and I just realized I did it in "weird" too...weird.) stealing this song as long as we get some royalties. So here you go...once again this is the first song I ever heard Jon play...it was love at first sight...kinda.

Songs of Old...

So I had to force Jon to flip some of his old songs from high school. I did not meet Jon until my freshman year of college at good ol' TMC. He caught my eye when he played the original song "tomboy". It made me laugh while also being impressed by his skills. What college girl doesn't like a guy that can shred (even if it is acoustically).

The song posted below is not "tomboy" (look forward to that one in the future), but it is another one of my favorites written by Jon called "The Goldfish Song". Jon can eat one of those huge goldfish boxes in one sitting. Gross, but I love it. Needless to say Jon is a huge fan of goldfish...just listen to the song and you will see.

Mandy

And Now for Something Completely Different

This is the first of hopefully many video posts. Just turn on the flip video camera and go.

I've hit the songwriting vein and we'll see what happens.

enjoy.

This song is straight out of Hebrews 13.

On Raising a Terrifyingly Smart Toddler...

It's hard to believe that we are a family of four now! I am not entirely sure how that happened so quickly, except that it is what God wanted :). Speaking of God, the fact He is sovereign is something that I am becoming more and more confident in, especially these past 2.5 years "parenting". Having children has made me appreciate the love and providence of the Almighty in a way that I wish everyone could experience...

That being said, I believe with all of my heart that being a proactive parent will yield timely results in our kids. What I mean is our kids are a reflection of us and we should commit to excellence in all things for the glory of Christ by being consistent in teaching and training them to bring them up in the way they should go. So, basically they will learn according to the measure of what energy and time we put in to teach them something.

Right from the start with both Riley and now Jeremiah, Mandy and I have tried to read books with them, sing to them, and play with them every single day. Not just Dr. Seuss and other children's books, but books like the Bible, Pilgrim's Progress, Lord of the Rings, and the Chronicles of Narnia. We hope that it will help them tremendously to hear many different words every day. Also, little to no television is something we are now trying to implement and believe that it is for the better. But, we are new at this whole parenting thing and now Jeremiah might be 5 years old before he says anything after posting this. :) God has kept us humble as well through our children. At the end of the day, the intelligence of our children is God ordained before they were formed in the womb. But, all children have potential and we have a big responsibility in helping them reach that.




I say all of that to say this... Oftentimes your children will surprise you!

We have observed this and usually say something in the vein of, "Wow, when did you learn how to say or do that?"

It's incredible how much your kids are watching and observing you. They learn best from how we act, not by what we say.

So storytime..

Riley: "Hey Daddy, where is that airplane going?"
Daddy: "I don't know, girl."
Riley: "It's probably going to the airport."
Daddy: "Actually, you know what, you are exactly right."

One more story....

Daddy: "What did you learn in class today?"
Riley: "I learned about Jesus and that He died for me. He will heal all my boo-boo's and all your boo-boo's and He will hold my hand in Heaven."
Daddy: "Wow, that is more relevant than any status I've seen on facebook for months."

It's a sure bet that I need to start reviewing my algebra now if I am going to be any help with Riley's homework when she gets to middle school!

I have come to find that raising children is such a privilege and God gives each one of us special grace to accomplish His purposes.
I hope that my children leave our home one day not only having reached their full potential but also perservering in their faith in Jesus Christ.


- Jon

Introducing...

Jeremiah David Huff. So I have not been so good at keeping up with this blog thing, but in the last post I mentioned a new Huff was on the way and HE is here! I can’t believe that I am a mother of two. Although I have been beyond tired it has been good and I love having a little boy.


We had a more difficult time arriving at a name for Jeremiah than we did with Riley. It was important to me for our son to have a name that I liked not only in sound, but in meaning. I loved the name Riley and it means valiant and courageous. Her middle name is Grace. This is also my sister Rebecca’s middle name and the name of my great-grandmother, who we called “Mama Grace”. For those reasons and it simply being the word “grace” I liked this for a middle name. Jon was not convinced until, while I was pregnant, he read the book Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. He was moved by the discussion of grace in the book and felt it would be a worthy middle name for our daughter. So, that is how Riley Grace Huff got her name. “Riley” is also Irish and she was born on St. Patrick’s day…interesting.

Every night I pray that Riley would be a valiant and courageous warrior for the Lord and that God’s grace would be revealed through Riley. It is her name.
So, Jeremiah. It is obviously a “Biblical” name, but so much more than that to us. The past year and a half has been difficult. Short version…we tried to sell our house to move to North Carolina so that Jon could play with Matt Papa and go to seminary for FREE. So, we quit our jobs…could not sell our house…so needless to say we had some struggles trusting the Lord and understanding his plan. During this time Jon wrote a song from Jeremiah 29. Also during this time the Lord gave me a passage that I pretty much repeated to myself multiple times throughout the day and it helped us get through this rough year. The verse was Jeremiah 17: 7-8

“But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream; it does not fear when heat comes it’s leaves are always green. It has worry in the year of drought; it never fails to bear fruit.”

The book of Jeremiah was very relevant in our lives during that time. I even painted that passage... which for me means it’s important.




Then we find out we are pregnant. Of course I repeat this verse to myself…but I was scared. I did not feel like I was physically, emotionally, or financially prepared for another child. God knows better than I do and I cannot imagine my life without my little Jer Bear (Jon says I am not aloud to call him that). God has brought us through a lot and we are still learning how to trust Him.

Also, I wanted our son to have the same initials as Jon (JDH). So we were looking for a “J” name. I don’t know why the name “Jeremiah” did not hit me earlier. I really wanted to name him Jachin (meaning…), but Jon was not a fan. Then we realized. JEREMIAH. It’s like God was telling us to name him that for a year but we did not see it until a week before he was born…silly little humans. The meaning: Hebrew; God will raise up; God will set free. It’s a done deal…his name will be Jeremiah. The middle name. We could have gone with Jon’s middle name “Daniel” which means “God is my Judge”, but we decided to use the name David after David in the Bible and Jon’s dad, David Huff. The meaning: Beloved. And that is the name Jeremiah David Huff. God will raise up and I pray that he will be a leader for the Lord and just like Jeremiah in the days of old he will speak the Lord’s truth regardless of the circumstance. He is the Lord’s beloved. This is our son.