Wonderful Christmas!

Mid December Photo Blog

Well, two crazy weeks of living have come to a close! I took pictures of most of our events, but didn't bring my camera to our piano recital or Christmas parties. Here is a picture blog of a few of our recent activities.

Ballet Viewing Class: Last week, the parents were allowed in to watch a ballet class. Here is Mary Beth with her best bud, Whitney. I feel like I have as many pics of Whitney as I do my own children! The girls love to say that they have been best friends since they wore diapers and will be best friends until they die. Very morbid but sweet! I love watching these two together!

Matthew's Ornament: Our PTA takes pictures of every child and puts them in ornaments for the parents. These are my favorite things on our tree! I watched Matthew's 4th grade class last week while his teacher took a much needed 2 hour break, and took pics of his entire class. Here is Matthew's 4th grade picture:
Thomas's Class Party: Several room moms took a morning last week to make these cute reindeer shirts. The antlers are hands, and the face is a foot. The second graders switch rooms for their Christmas party, and I read Mr. Willoughby's Christmas tree 6 times that day!
Jack's 1st birthday party. I love being an aunt!
Thomas's 8th birthday. You just have to know this funny kid. One of my PTA responsibilities is to PAW birthday kids. That morning, after the signs were delivered, I asked Thomas to get the paper. He walked outside, got the paper, and came in.....never noticing these huge birthday signs in the yard! He gets so focused on a task that he doesn't let extraneous information in! He was very excited once I pointed them out!
Hanging out with sweet cousin, James.
Mary Beth's kindergarten party. I can't believe that half of kindergarten is over! What a great year so far!

Another of my huge PTA responsibilities this year was to organize the parent chaperones to the Gaylord Texan ICE exhibit/Rainforest Cafe' tour. It was a ton of fun!

Church family night. We painted a nativity scene, played games, watched a movie, and ate cookies. Thomas was thrilled to be painting a "presepio". I had no idea what he was talking about until he explained that the Italians have a Presepio, or nativity scene, in every town. He learned a lot in the 2nd grade Christmas Around The World!
We had a gorgeous 30 minute blizzard recently. I was the goofball taking pictures with my iPhone at stop lights! ;)
Mary Beth's kindergarten ornament picture.

Back to Jack's 1st birthday party.
Celebrating Thomas and Dad's birthday. This was also the SEC championship day. We were all THRILLED! Mainly to be celebrating the birthdays. Is that what I am supposed to say? ;)
Happy B-day/SEC championship!

Mary Beth doing her school work. I can't believe how much she has grown up these past few months!

Does anyone besides me hear the Hallelujah Chorus in surround sound?

1 year and 34,485 stitches later, I have completed Mary Beth's needlepoint name! I hope she cherishes it always and has it at the top of her list of what to run out of a burning building with.

There were many times during this year that I wished I had named my daughter, Jo.

Complicate kisses

This is a funny slice of the Barnhill family life that I feel like needs to be documented for posterity.

There was once a day when kisses occurred in our house with little fanfare. It was a simple time in our lives.

Then, about a year ago, Thomas decided that he wanted to have more kisses from me than Bryon did, so after Bryon and I would kiss, Thomas would squeal, "Erase!" This was very cute.

Then, over time, it was "Erase! Final!" then

"Erase! Final, Infinity and beyond!"

then, eventually...

"Erase!" and in order to keep the kiss, you had to say, "Final! Infinity beyond, no changes, and forever does it NOW!" before someone says, "Erase!" Thomas likes to give me a kiss when no one is looking and whisper the Final Infinity before Bryon or his older brother scream "Erase!"

Sometimes, he say it really fast, sometimes he sings it to the church hymn of "Yonder over the rolling river where the shining mansions rise".

Now, Mary Beth thought this was very sad that Bryon didn't get to keep any kisses from me, so she started screaming, "Lock!" after Bryon kissed me which would immediately negate the "Erase!" without having to do the Final Infinity. Matthew likes to join in on this to annoy Thomas.

So now, every time Bryon kisses me, we have three eager children ready to scream "Erase!" and "Lock!" after the kiss is over!

Never a dull moment!

A friendly Thanksgiving

We had our usual fun trip to Conroe for Thanksgiving this year. We had enjoyed hanging out with Bryon's family, and it is always nice that my in laws invite my parents to come along. The day after Thanksgiving, it is a tradition that my parents and I go to Old Town Spring for some fun holiday shopping. This year, we were so excited that my dear friend from Tuscaloosa, Karen, joined us! Her sister lives nearby, and Karen and her boys were spending Thanksgiving with her family. We enjoyed a yummy lunch, good conversation, and lots of holiday shopping together! What a fun day!

We spent the weekend getting our house decorated, and only have one project left to do. I love having the house decorated! We had a wonderful weekend together, then it was off to school and work yesterday. I was sad saying goodbye to the family, but so excited about my day yesterday!

I met Emily and Jere' when I was a teenager. Jere' and I played piano and sang in choir together in middle school, and we met Emily after she moved to Abilene at the beginning of high school. I absolutely adored these two, and I was devastated to leave them when we moved to Waco my junior year. Sadly, before the wonders of the internet, I lost touch with my two friends. I did find them 5 or 6 years ago, and have enjoyed spending time with the two of them on several occasions in Amarillo, Denver, and Ft. Worth. However, yesterday was the first day since I was 17 that I was with the two of them together. We had a wonderful day, and spent lots of time laughing and picking up where we left off. I hope we can get together more often! Love these two! I was so happy that my friend, Kristen, happened to be passing by to take our picture. Thanks, Kristen!

My 16th Birthday. We had just moved to Waco, and Emily and Jere' came from Abilene to meet us at Hard Rock Cafe' in Dallas.

I was trying too hard not to laugh in this picture. Emily always brought out my giggles!

Our weekend

We had a wonderful weekend last weekend! Of course, I took no pictures, but I will remember this weekend for a long time!

First, Matthew had one of his best buds spend the night on Friday night for his birthday. We were in party preparation mode the week that everything happened with Matthew, and the party was placed on the back burner. He was just as happy having his good friend watch The Blind Side with him and play Madden 10 until the wee hours!

Meanwhile, Thomas had an event at his school for all the Venture kids in 2nd grade in the district. It was all about taking care of dogs. Now, my sweet, hyperallergenic, sensitive skinned Thomas wants a dog. I'm hoping this feeling passes!

Saturday morning, we jumped in the car and headed to Fredericksburg, about 3 hours away. The town was decorated to the hilt for Christmas, and we enjoyed doing lots of shopping and eating German food. Thomas has now fallen in love with the sausage on a stick! It was such a fun and relaxing day. Just what we all needed!

Late afternoon, we headed to Austin for the evening. After we checked into our room, we had a great steak dinner near our hotel. We have decided that UT game nights are the best nights to be in Austin. We had the whole town to ourselves! ;) Finally, Mary Beth, Thomas and I went back to our hotel for the evening. Meanwhile, Bryon and Matthew went to see Train in concert. Train is Bryon's favorite band, and the kids love listening to their music in his car. Part of Matthew's birthday present from us was to see them in concert. It was standing room only, and somehow, the boys managed to be front row/center! Pat Monahan, their lead singer, apparently enjoyed watching Matthew sing along to the music, because he gave Matthew his guitar pic and the set list that he had printed out for the evening! What a fun night for my boys!

Sunday, we did a little more shopping in the Arboretum, then headed home. The trip definitely got me excited about Christmas. I always love a shot in the arm that helps prepare me for the marathon that is decorating our house! It was great spending time with my little family most of all. I feel so blessed to have such a fun family!

Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast

Every year, the kindergartners at our school have a Thanksgiving feast. They dress up like pilgrims or indians. This is my first experience with a pilgrim! What a cute event! After a while, the pilgrim hat started to bother Mary Beth, so she was a pouty pilgrim for a minute or two! ;) We are ready for Thanksgiving!

Matthew Barnhill: Decade #1

Well, Decade #1 for Matthew is in the books, and what an adventure so far!

10 years ago today, I gave birth to a beautiful 7lb. 11 oz. baby boy. He entered the world screaming and flailing his arms and legs and letting us be aware of his presence! Little did we know that blessed night that there would never be a time when we weren't aware of his presence in a room!

Matthew was a funny, precocious, friendly, and energetic toddler. There were moments when I thought that only one of us would make it out of that stage alive! Matthew was always happy, but never wanting to stop. He gave up his naps at 2 years and 3 weeks, and never looked back. There was just too much to do and see in this big world of his!

From an early age, Matthew became a student. He was fascinated by the world around him, and always wanted more. I will never forget the day a woman came by our house when Matthew was 3 years old. After spending a few minutes with him, she told me, "That child needs to be in Montessori!" This was one of the best decisions we made for our curious little boy. He discovered new concepts, learned to read, and was reading chapter books by the beginning of kindergarten.

School has always been Matthew's passion. He can't wait to go every day and keeps on top of everything. Honestly, I have never had to look over spelling words or homework with Matthew. He loves homework and has always gotten his business taken care of on his own. Of course, I have already mentioned in previous posts about his love for reading. Matthew and I have devised a challenge that he gets a prize after reading 30 books that I had bought for him over the years. He keeps adding more to the list, because there are so many he wants to read!

Matthew loves challenges. We set high goals for him with reading, sports, and school work. I realize that not every child is like this, but high goals turns on his competitive spirit, and he always rises to the challenge. He thrives on these activities!

Matthew seems very comfortable in his own skin. He is always the same, whether he is playing with the "in crowd" at recess, encouraging a boy who doesn't have as many friends, playing sports, or at home with us. He likes being an individual, and never tries to fit in with the crowd.

Matthew loves the role of protector, and is a great big brother. He also adores his younger cousins, and they seem to light up when he is around. He is a softy for babies!

I love that no matter what a tough guy he is, he is very affectionate with me. He will still sit on my lap from time to time, which is getting a little uncomfortable. My 7lb.11oz. baby has turned into 97 pounds of love! Ouch! He is quick to hold my hand, hug me, or put his head on my shoulder.

Matthew is incredibly intense, and he can get angry from time to time, but he is never in that state for more than a minute. All I have to do is look at him a certain way, and he busts out laughing! Always!

Matthew always stands up for what he believes in. He came home from school a few weeks ago just heartsick. He said that he was watching a movie in science about how lava helped form the earth. This angered him, because "God made the earth, not lava!" When he told his teacher this, several kids started laughing at him. He said it didn't bother him one bit because he was standing up for what he had learned in the bible and this was part of God's purpose for him!

I absolutely love being with Matthew. He has such an interesting perspective on life, and I hang on every word he says. We feel so blessed that God entrusted us with raising Matthew.

Given the events of this week, we were again reminded of what a gift our Matthew. I look forward to what Decade #2 has in store!

Saturday

My last blog entry was so long that I wanted a separate one for Saturday's events.

Saturday morning was the Baylor/UT game in Waco. We were glad that Vishal and Kevin (childhood friends of Bryon's) and Kevin's boys got to come to the game with my boys. Going up against the number 3 team in the country, we knew that it wasn't going to be pretty, and it lived up to it's billing. However, we love our Baylor Bears and cheer hard no matter what!

Middle of the afternoon, Kristen, her son Scott, and her mother, Suzanne came into town. Millie Pullias's memorial service was Saturday night and they came down for that. We enjoyed talking the afternoon away, and eating lots of Thanksgiving goodies that were made for the evening. Afterall, who can resist eating pumpkin pie and appetizers with so many loved ones around? It is always a blessing to get to spend time with the Seidels/O'Quinns!

Saturday night was Millie's memorial service. We loved her so dearly, and will miss seeing her beaming face at church every Sunday. Millie, and 86 year old widow, was a remarkable woman. Kind, beautiful, gracious, encouraging, magnetic. People were just drawn to her. I always told her that I wanted to be just like her when I grew up!

After the memorial service, my entire family headed back to our house to eat Thanksgiving dinner and to celebrate Matthew's 10th birthday. Since we all head to our in laws for Thanksgiving, it has become a custom to eat our traditional Thanksgiving meal the weekend we celebrate Matthew's birthday (11/18). We enjoyed a wonderful dinner (which I neglected to take a single picture of), watched the Alabama vs. Mississipi State game, and watched Matthew open presents from the family.

It was a long, busy, wonderful day!

A new week.

We are starting off a whole new week today, and I am yearning for some normalcy. The amount of stress, joy, sadness, exhaustion, etc that has been apart of our lives the past 6 days has been enormous. I have hit the wall, and am praying for normalcy. At least a few days of it. Is that asking too much? ;)

People have asked how I am doing, and how Matthew is doing. This is what I say...for every bit of anger and fear that I have felt, I feel more love, comfort, and peace. I mean this from the bottom of my heart. I have never felt God's presence so near to me. It is almost like I can physically feel His arms on my shoulders. I have felt a blanket covering up my nerves. I can even sense that the peace and comfort I am feeling are not natural. This unnatural peace has allowed me to be home by myself, and even enter the house alone at night with no fear.

As real and concrete a thinker as I am, I must share that when the attack is going through my mind, I never picture it without two angels (the angels in revelation/not fat babies playing harps) right behind Matthew in full attack mode. I couldn't believe how real these visions were, and then it occurred to me that perhaps God placed those images in my head to let me know what really happened. After all, there are passages in the bible that reference angels protecting children.

Something that keeps running through my mind, is that our God is the God of comfort. I believe with all my heart that God hurt for our entire family when we saw our sweet boy with blood all over his face, shaking, talking to the policemen. I believe that He uses his church to show His comfort. I have been completely and utterly blown away by the kindness of friends and loved ones. Every message sent, kind word said, and kind deed has helped heal my heart. All of this kindness and compassion keeps running through my mind. I see your faces in my mind and I will never forget what you have done. I won't mention them by name, but you know who you are. I love you dearly.

Matthew is doing remarkably well. If you don't know him personally, I will tell you that people who do know him are not at all shocked at how he handled everything. Matthew has always had the heart of a warrior. You can see it so clearly when he is playing sports. If he were full blooded Scottish, rather than 1/2 Scottish, he would be running around with blue paint on his face screaming, "Freedom!":) His main reaction to this is just pride that he defended our home.

My dear friend, Ashlie, sent me this verse from Proverbs 28:1. "The wicked man runs though he is not provoked, but a righteous man is as bold as a lion". Matthew adores this verse, and I pray that he lives up to this verse his entire life.

Now, about his attacker. I tend to lean more toward hanging up criminals by their toes and whipping them. Not tons of mercy on my part. However, I find myself praying for Matthew's attacker. I have no doubt that his original intent was not to hurt Matthew. Just get him out of the way to gain entry to our house. Many friends have pointed out that he must not have been expecting the Home Alone boy! I am also relatively convinced that he was on drugs at the time of the attempted break in, and looking for drug money. No other reason can explain his rash and brazen action. I pray that when this man sobered up, he realized that he hurt a child, and maybe this was what he needed to turn his life around. I realize that that would take a miracle, but we are all about miracles this week.

Before this entire ordeal occurred, Matthew had expressed a deep desire to be baptized. It was decided on Tuesday night that this Sunday would be the day that he would become a Christian. When Matthew was asked how he wanted things to go on Sunday, he stated that he wanted Daddy to baptize him, Uncle Michael to take his confession, Deedah to pray for him, and Uncle Josh and Thomas to stand with him. It was a moment I will never forget. Seeing my beautiful boy standing with such Godly men. I feel tremendously blessed that my sons will grown up with incredible mentors. What a way to end the week.

So this is where we are. Taking things one day at a time, and slowly returning to our new normal.

In case you missed hearing of our saga, here was what was posted on Facebook last week:

Facebook entry: 11/11/09

I hesitated to write a note about what happened today, but there are lots of sweet concerned friends who care for Matthew, our 10 year old son, as well as some rumors floating around, so I thought I would clarify:

At 4:00, I needed to run a quick errand. I sent the little two kids to their friends house, and Matthew asked to stay home to practice his piano before his lesson in an hour. After I finished my errand, about 15 minutes later, I realized that I had left my cell phone in the car. I had 5 missed calls from the house. Figuring that Matthew wanted to know if he could watch TV, I called the house and my sister answered. She told me that Matthew had been attacked by a man in a ski mask. He tried to call me, and then called my sister to see if he needed to call 911. Of course, I raced home to find several police cars in front of my house, and my precious 10 year old boy talking to them with a bloody face.

Apparently, after practicing piano for a few minutes, he decided to surprise me by taking out the trash. When he opened the garage door, a tall man in a ski mask was standing there and demanded that Matthew give him our money and jewelry. Matthew said no and started screaming. The man proceeded to punch Matthew hard in the face twice. Then the man started running inside our house, and Matthew tripped him, then stepped on him telling him that he was NOT going to go into his house. The man called Matthew every name in the book and wound up punching him in the face one more time before running away.

Matthew was able to tell this story to the police without crying once. The police officers couldn't believe how brave he was and were shocked at Matthew's presence of mind. He was able to tell the policemen that his attacker was tall like his Uncle Michael, white (he could see only under his eyes), and left handed, since he punched with his left hand.

After seeing his bloody face, we all agreed that a trip to the E.R. was in order to make sure his bones were in tact. A sweet doctor who lives a few houses down from me called into the E.R. to make sure we were treated well. And we were. We didn't have to even wait in the waiting room. Dr. H is the best. After the doctor checked him out, he thought that a cat scan would be best, and, praise God, no bones were broken. Just a very bloody nose and possibly two black eyes tomorrow.

I am feeling many emotions right now. I have never been prouder of my son. That boy is the bravest person I know. I still cannot fathom the sight of a man in a ski mask waiting by the door. I am scared that somehow this jerk is going to try to come back to our house, and I feel like it will be a long time before I let any of them out of my sight. But mostly, I am praising God for keeping my son safe. While the police officers commended Matthew's bravery, they were quick to point out that had this man had a knife or gun, this wouldn't have ended the same way.

Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers. I just want Matthew's mental health to be OK. He is a remarkable boy, and I know he will heal, but hope that the healing process is quick.

Thank you for your concern. If you live in our neighborhood, keep an eye out. I think it is a good reminder to everyone in a safe neighborhood to keep garage doors and every door in your house locked. It might also help to have a body guard like my Matthew.

Facebook entry: 11/12/09

I wanted to follow up with last night's note, and this will be the last that I write about this incident. We are moving forward, trusting that God has a purpose for Matthew, and taking comfort in the peace that only He can give.

First of all, I am completely overwhelmed by the kindness and concern from our friends and family. I have heard people say before that they can feel people's prayers. I don't think I fully grasped that concept until this happened. I tend to not sleep well when I am upset. I actually did not sleep well the night before this, after the death of my sweet, elderly friend, Millie. So, I was anticipating a rough night. Our entire family slept like babies last night. This morning, I read some of your sweet emails and heard you say over the phone that you specifically prayed that we would sleep well. I am so grateful for that. Also, I am feeling an almost unnatural sense of peace about this. When I want to start playing the "what ifs" in my head, I am able to stop myself and remind myself that the what ifs didn't happen. God had his hand on Matthew.

My brother brought something to my attention today. I am actually grateful that Matthew did go outside when he did. It is obvious that this man was going to break into our house, and I shutter to think about what he would have done to him if he had had the protection of the house. The man, I think, ran away knowing that someone would see him any minute. But there I go with the what ifs...

I have been concerned about Matthew's emotional health, and so far, he is handling this remarkably well. When I ask him how he is feeling, he simply says that he is proud he protected our home and happy that God was with him. He is actually able to laugh about it. Bryon and the boys love to wrestle, and the occasional, "Your Kung-Fu...is not that good." will slip out of their mouths. When Matthew and I were talking today, he said, "Apparently, my Kung Fu is that good!"

I want to respond to everyone's emails, but if I don't, please know that every word you have said has comforted me. I am blown away. We even had the Chick Fil A cow come to our house today and bring us lunch in recognition of Matthew's bravery! Thanks, Kristin!

So, after today, we are going to go back to normal, with a few exceptions. We will be much more diligent about locking every door and shutting the garage door when we are home. I try to be on top of this, but when kids are walking out of every door in our home, it get's tough to control. I recognize none of this would have helped in the situation, but still,it is a good reminder to all of us lulled into thinking we live in a safe neighborhood. Also, for a while at least, until I feel comfortable, my children will not be playing outside without me present. Other than the physical punches to Matthew's face, this hurts the worst. This really makes me angry, that one idiot could freak out an entire neighborhood of sweet families. But, I am reminded, that we live in a broken world, and have to rely on God.

There is part of me that is drowning in mommy guilt. I should have been there. We started this summer leaving Matthew at home for short stints, usually around 30 minutes at a time. He hasn't let us down once. Everyone who knows him knows that he is extremely responsible and trustworthy. Even as horrendous as this experience was, he handled himself better than I could have ever hoped. In my heart, I am saying that I am going to keep him on one of those kid leashes until he is 16, but the truth is, even through all of this, I know he can handle himself. When he is ready, I am sure we will go back to letting him stay home while I run a quick errand.

I think that's about it. I love you all, and are thankful you are in our lives!