Atypical Post

I don't usually post and or email out things like this but when I read this I had to pass it along.

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.

My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.

In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.

Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.

Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!

Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts,

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,

I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
"My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile."

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.

"I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.

I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother...
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."

"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?

It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."


I hope we all remember that the freedom we have to celebrate the birth and life of our Savior without the fear of persecution or worse has come, and is still coming, at a very high cost. Please keep these men, women and their families in your prayers, especially during the holiday season.

Some Pictures

The results of a napless afternoon

Heading out to the Turkey Trot

She'll probably be able to fit into this shirt when she's 10

Sydney loves Nathaniel

She won't sleep without him

Heading out to see Santa

Sydney's first picture with Santa. She did so much better than I ever expected.

She knows where to go for the good stuff. Senair never disappoints when it comes to cookies.

Peas and Ane Oow

I know it's been a while but it's been busy here in the Hemphill house. We have the tree up and decorated. So far the only thing Sydney cares to do with the tree is pull off a jingle bell ornament and shake it for a good 5 minutes then drop it wherever she happens to be at the 5 minute mark. She does, however enjoy pulling the bows off of the presents very much! I'm going to wait till Christmas Eve to put bows on any more of the packages.

Sydney has used the sign for please for a while now and she also blows kisses to say thank you but the other day she tried something different. She dropped her sippie cup while sitting in her high chair and did the typical reach and whine. I told her she needed to say please and rather than showing me the sign she said "peas". As a mom who is worried about the lack of words my child uses I must say this made me ecstatic. The next day she said "ane oow" (thank you) after I gave her the book she was reaching for. Maybe I shouldn't be so worried after all. Apparently she is going to talk one of these days.

The Candle Part 2

I finally got the pictures so, as promised, here they are. If you didn't catch the story go here to read it.




Thanks for the crazy fun candle, Aunt Katie! Next time we'll know how to use it! :)

Random

I don't typically do much cleaning while Sydney is awake but on this particular day I did. I was amazed at how quickly this little girl picked up on what I was doing! On that same note I was changing her diaper today and she reached beside her and touched the top of the lotion bottle with her finger twice. Then she proceeded to rub her little hands together!!! She did this every other time that I changed her diaper today. Really, now??? I'm going to have to start being really careful about what I do around this little one. I know everyone says this, but I have now seen it in action. Your children do what you do!! And as soon as she starts talking I'm sure she will be saying exactly what I say, heaven help me!

Sydney had her first trip to the zoo on Tuesday with our play group. She did very well, I was a bit worried since she has a 2.1 second attention span. Her favorite exhibit was the penguins, sadly those pictures didn't turn out as I forgot to turn off the auto flash, but here are a few others.

Playin on the alligator

Checking out the Meerkats

Playing on the reptile exhibit

Sydney got these Alphabooks for her birthday. There are 26 little books, one for each letter of the alphabet. She absolutely loves these! She takes each of them out of the box, one at a time, then puts each of them back into the box, one at a time. Yesterday while she was pulling them out she actually stopped long enough between books to let me read through one before she moved on, we made it through five books!! This is fantastic for my little girl, she is a mover and has never been able to make it through an entire book, unless she has a bottle. Just another reminder that she is growing up. It's so much fun but still a little sad.

Jeremy and I got Sydney her first doll for her birthday. We got her a bath baby because bath time is one of her favorite times of the day. As soon as we got the baby out of the box she was hugging it. It was so sweet. I named her baby Matilda. I don't remember where that name came from but I'd been brainstorming for several days (thanks Julia:) ) on what to name her and that's the name that stuck.

Sydney has become more affectionate towards Jeremy and I lately. She has given us kisses since she was 6 months old but now she's started hugging(lasting hugs) us and laying her head on our shoulder while she talks or sings to us. I can't imagine out lives without the hugs of this precious little girl.

Candle

So I promised the Facebook world the story of the candle at Sydney's first birthday party. So, here it is without pictures. I didn't actually get still pictures on the candle incident just video and I still don't know how to format video so it will post on the blog. There are pictures of the candle I just haven't been able to snag them from the family that took them, so I'll add them to the post later when I get them. ANYWAY, for the story...

So, Aunt Katie sends Sydney a birthday package. Included in this package is a very elaborate candle that, once lit, lights 10 additional candles, falls open, spins around, sings and has sparklers shoot out of it. The candle is from her new home so the instructions are entirely in Mandarin. There are however three "very useful" pictures on the side of the box. Included in the box with the candle is a stick approximately the width of 2 tooth pick and twice the length. I pulled the candle out on Friday night and had my dad and Jeremy, both engineers, look at it to figure out how it worked so that we would have no delays at the party. It was decided that the stick should be lit then put into a hole on the top of the candle. Needless to say that route was tried for about 3 minutes then several others were tried, none were successful. So after about 10 minutes of trying, 8+ matches, a lighter that ran out of lighter fluid and a very frustrated 1 year old, it was decided that we would just light the 10 individual candles. Well, lighting these candles set of the sparkler in the middle which set the whole candle off just the way it was suppose to be, go figure. About 3 seconds after the candle was lit the smoke detectors started going off, Sydney started screaming and every adult in the room was absolutely rolling. Thank the Lord we just had family at this party and no other little ones, I can't even image the chaos that would have caused. Sydney did calm down enough, though to finally sit back down and eat her cake.

I know this would be so much better with pictures but I will add some when I get them. Maybe I'll even be ambitious and try to figure out how to post video.

Some Birthday Pics

Two posts in less than 24hrs. Don't ever count on that happening again! :) The hat did not go over very well, I was a little disappointed. I was expecting her to do ok since she kept her ladybug antennas on this past weekend. oh well...
Sydney got her first baby doll for her birthday. We got her a bath time baby since bath time is one of her favorite times of the day. She liked the baby better than I thought she would at first she kissed and hugged it as soon as she got it in her arms. She had a banana muffin(she's going to get cake on Saturday) with cream cheese icing, but wasn't quite sure what to do with the candle. Daddy ended up blowing it out for her.

Daddy trying to teach me how to show people I'm 1.

"I don't really care for this hat on my head!"

"That's better, mommy you keep it on your head"

"This seems like a lot of work"

"Mmmm, keep this stuff coming"

One Year

November 4, 2008

Less than an hour old

Getting ready to go home

I'm sure everyone starts their "1 Year" post this way but I really can't believe this little girl has been in our lives for a whole year! It's been a crazy year but I have loved having this little girl in my life. She is my little mover, from the time she was six weeks old she has had the need to move and see everything around her. Now that she's walking, and really she's almost started running, there is not a waking moment that this girl is still. This makes life very interesting. I have to keep the pantry (one of her favorite places to play) open and Tupperware on the bottom rack of the dishwasher (another of her favorite places to play) in order to get the 5 minutes I need to make lunch.
My strong willed girl is definitely going to give me a challenge this coming year. Currently she laughs at me when I tell her "no" and swat her hand. She does not, however, laugh at her daddy when he tells her "no". He doesn't even have to be half as firm in his tone as I get and that little girl is in tears (it breaks my heart when she cries like that). Sadly enough due to this issue in our household we have had to make a Mr. Sad. I've only had to use it twice, but I don't expect I will be as lucky in the coming year.
She makes us laugh all the time. She will do something she thinks it funny then get a huge grin across her face and wait for us to laugh. She climbs in and off of everything. We finally had to get rid of the exersuacer because she was using it as a jungle gym. She loves to play outside and go for walks. She also loves to explore and has become comfortable enough in her abilities that she will explore any place we go (only when she can get away from me).
We love this little girl more than anything in the world though, and while it's not going to be easy I can't wait to see what God has in store for us in the second year of our daughters life.

Always on the move

My sweet little girl!

We love you Sydney Ann, and thank the Lord everyday for giving you to us.
Happy First Birthday!

Picture Post

I know, it's been a really long time since I've posted but there 's a very good reason for that and that is that I started working again. Just part time, and not even technically part time as hours go but, none the less it's still been a little time consuming trying to adjusting to a new schedule. But I wanted to post picture of Sydney's first costume. Our Sunday School class hosted a block party tonight and Sydney was such a trooper. Anyway, here are the pictures and maybe there will be a post with more words soon.

Loving on her friend Mac

A chicken and a ladybug

Heading for the beanbag toss

Bowling

The bounce house was by far her favorite thing of the evening!

My Precious little girl!

11 Months

I can't believe it! Our little girl will be 1 year old in 1 month. I think I've finally finished the birthday invitation and I've decided on the cake and what mommy and daddy are going to give her. Now all that's left are the incidentals, and the actual process of making the cake. I'll start losing sleep over this in about 2 weeks.

But now for the 11 months. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed!!

What she's up to these days

- She is now walking on her own and no longer requires me or Jeremy to coax her. I caught her walking across the living room the other day while I was cleaning up breakfast and she's been going ever since.
- She poses for pictures. She has always done this but now it's excessive, she'll get this huge grin and she waits for the laughter and applause that follows.
- She has 9 teeth and is working on another.
- She will reach for people, other than mommy, to hold her.
- She loves dancing.
- She has developed a fascination with moving ceiling fans, she loves to tilt her head all the way back and stare at them.
- She loves to hi-five.
- The pantry is her new play place. She loves pulling the boxes of cereal out and playing with the breakfast bars.
- When she is done playing with a toy she will take it and put it back in her little toy box. I know this won't last much longer but I'm going to enjoy it while it does.

A Little Late, I Know

Well she turned 10 months old about a week and a half ago but it's been a busy week and a half, so I'm just now getting to the post. We'll see how long it takes me to get this up. It's 7:10 right now.

Sydney is becoming such a little talker these days. She has started using "two syllable words". BaNa, LaMa, BaWl and a few others that I really have no clue about. She will sing to the radio sometimes when we're driving. And she most definitely has learned the word NO. Her favorite time to use it is during a meal when I put vegetables in front of her and when she has to be cleaned off after eating. On the flip side though, when I tell her no she laughs and laughs like I'm playing a game with her. Oh goodness we are in for some fun times.

7:13 and my child is demanding I get her out of bed now. More to come during morning nap...

Some of her favorites right now include playing with balls which I think is one of her words(BaWl) not sure though. She very much enjoys crawling and walking the length of the couch. Jeremy started letting her do this a few weeks ago and puts pillows on the floor just in case she falls/rolls off. I think she really just enjoys being able to throw herself down on the soft surface, an activity she discovered was possible one Saturday morning when she woke up entirely too early and we brought her to bed with us. She absolutely loves the dish washer. I'll put some plastic dishes on the bottom shelf for her and she will take them out and put them back in repeatedly while I work on cleaning or dinner prep. Another favorite is pulling all of her books out of her book basket. She does not however put these back in.

We moved her into her big(and when I say big I do mean big) car sear about a week ago. That has made a very big difference in travel. I think she really enjoys being able to see out the back window rather than staring at the back of the seat all the time. She has also become very proficient at turing the lights out when we leave a room. This is something her daddy taught her. He hates it when lights are left on when no one is in the room. Maybe one day he'll be able to teach me. :) She takes about 5 steps at a time now. Crawling is still her primary method of movement, though. I almost wish she would move to walking all together though, I think it would be easier to catch her, she is crazy fast crawler.

I'll leave you with some pictures then I'm off to tackle the two weeks worth of laundry I've been putting off. Time 10:23 that took just over 3 hours better than I thought.

Having fun before bed.

Playin' around in daddy's clothes!

Playin' around with daddy

This is what happens when daddy puts the bow in my hair.