Veterans Day

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.

Cynthia Ozick

We are so thankful for our soldiers and the sacrifice they and their families make.

Happy Veterans Day!

Love,

The Taffs

Thankful Thursday

Ok, so I should have known I wouldn't be able to blog daily!!  There's just only so much time in a day.  I did manage to get two consecutive days in though.  Instead, I figured I would do a spin on my 13 on Thursdays that I do frequently.  The whole month of November Wesley and I will post 13 things we are thankful for on each Thursday.  So, without further adieu....

1.  Our house - the roof over our head and the pillow under our head every night!

2.  We've never skipped a meal because we couldn't afford food.  That's more than most people in this world can say.  That's more than a lot of the people in our town can say.

3.  Our country - We are free to worship without persecution!

4.  Insurance

5.  Our parents - Wesley and I have parents with 28 years and 31 years of marriage, respectively, and still love each other very much today.  They raised us in christian homes and taught us to love the Lord with all of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength.

6.  Our health - not something we take for granted!

7.  Our education - Between us we have three degrees from Auburn University.  We are fully aware of how much a college education costs and don't take lightly what our parents did for us to send us to college.

8.  Our siblings (and sibling-in-laws) - We our very close to all of our siblings and while we hate living so far away from them, we are grateful for the times throughout the year that we get to spend with them (and we're thankful for Skype and Facetime!).

9.  Our cars and although the price of gas stinks, we're grateful that we have the money to buy that expensive gas!

10.  Our church and staff - They truly love the Lord and spur us on to do the same.  We learn so much from them and are so grateful for the place we go to bring our worship!  We're also incredibly thankful for the friends we have through our church, and our BFG (Bible Fellowship Group).

11.  Our coworkers - Aside from the fact that we get to go to work together, we work with some truly awesome, Godly people who are some of our best friends and are incredible teachers!

12.  Eli's daycare - While I wish that I could stay home with my Squirmy Bug, I am so thankful for where he is at now.  They take such good care of him and he learns so much from them!

13.  The men and women who have fought (and continue to fight) for all of the freedoms we have now!

Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.

1 Chronicles 29:13

Weekend Recap

Our weekend has been one filled with late nights!  Friday night Nana and Puddin' came up.  Eli had fun playing with them.  Here he is in Puddin's hat!

They kept Little Man so Wesley and I could go to Secret Church.  This was our second Secret Church (simulcast at our church) to attend.  It was so, so good!  The topic was Family, Marriage, Sex, and the Gospel.  It started at 7:00 and ran a little late; we didn't get home until 1:45 a.m.!

Saturday morning Pops came by for a visit.  After he left, we went to the River Walk.  Puddin' took some great pictures with his camera, and Eli loved being outside!

While we were here, we were remember what it was like when it flooded in this same spot a few years ago.

It's hard to imagine, but there will be rapids here soon!  We're getting a whitewater course built on the Chattahoochee.  It's supposed to be the longest, urban course in the world.

When we got out of church Saturday night we saw HUGE black smoke clouds.  We followed them back to the river, and a mill not too far from here was on fire.  It was the biggest fire I've ever seen.  The flames were incredible and scary.  You can read about it here.

See the workers?

We will have to make more trips to the River Walk; Eli had a blast!

One Really Long Halloween Post

Before we get too far into November I need to recap several Halloween activities.  I think we celebrated for ten days straight!  There was something nearly every day.

We got together with our BFG at our friends, Matt and Jenna's, house.  We had hot dogs, carved pumpkins, sat around the fire pit making S'mores, and stayed out way too late on a school night!  : )

The Friday before Halloween Eli got to wear his costume to school!  He was Bam-Bam from the Flinstones.

All of the classes participated in a costume parade through the daycare and church!  Eli even took his trick or treating bucket and got some good candy for us.

This is Eli and Mrs. Rebecca.  She's the assistant director and Eli is her favorite.  She gets him from his class and he gets to play in the office with her most days!

Eli's class-babies 4

The chicken all the way in the back right is our good friend, Brentley.  We work with her Mommy.

Sunday night, Bam Bam and Pebbles got together!

It was hard to get a good picture of two babies on the move!

We went to David's family's church's fall festival (my goodness, that was a lot of possessive nouns!).

 Monday night, Halloween night, our BFG worked a booth at our church's fall festival.  We got there early and set up our booth (balloon darts), and then Mallory and I took Abigail and Eli on some blow ups!  The babies loved playing and sliding!

I think we're finally recovered from all the activities and candy.  We are now looking forward to having a relaxing month with lots of family time!

Thankful-2

Day 2 of counting our blessings!  : )

We're incredibly blessed by our jobs-in so many ways.  First off, when so many people are struggling to find work and keep work, we are thankful for the jobs that we have.  Not only is it work, but it is work that we love!  Some of you may know, but my husband and I are both teachers...at the same school!  He coaches PE (and girls soccer at the high school) and I teach third grade.

We love so many things about our jobs.  We love the kids that we get to serve and the people that we work with; they're some of our closest friends.  One of the more obvious advantages of our jobs is summer vacation (no, that is not why we choose our jobs), but the hours are certain a perk!  Another thing that I really love about my job is that my principal is so family oriented.  He allows us to always put our family first-without question.  I'm so thankful for that!

The fame of your goodness spreads across the country; your righteousness is on everyone's lips.

Psalm 145:7

14 months old

I'm about a week late, but we've been incredibly busy lately!

Eli, you are learning SO much each day!  Daddy and I are so proud to be your parents.  You are so active, and your excitement for the simple things is contagious!  Each night I think that there's no way I could love you more, and yet each day our love for you deepens immensely.  We love you, Squirmy Bug!

Firsts: ear infection with tubes, after all of your sickness and injuries we're finally sleeping through the night again!

News headlines: I waited so long to do this-I can't remember much.  Libyan leader Ghadafi is overthrown and killed.  Protesters occupy Wall St. and everywhere else!

Milestones: You have so many tricks!  You know where your eyes, ears, nose, and mouth are.  You mimic motions that Daddy and I do.  Your climbing skills continue to improve.

Measurements: Size 3 diapers, size 12 and some 18 month clothes, about 23 lbs and 29 inches

Like Mommy: I've noticed that you also get very quiet around new people, just like mommy.

Like Daddy: You love music and playing outside.!

Favorite Toys: You love to slide, climb, and ride your dino.  You also love to play with pillows.

Sounds: Still the same as the last month:  /b/, /m/, /d/, /n/.  But, Daddy and I can tell a difference in the /b/ sounds you make.  /ba/ for ball, /boo/ for book, etc.  You also love to say "huh?"!

Challenges: Throwing fits.  Learning to listen to Mommy and Daddy.

Our Days:.  You are finally sleeping well through the night again.  Mommy wakes you up at 6:30.  You get dropped off at school around 7:30 and picked up just after 4.  You take a 2 1/2 hr nap at school, and usually another hour nap when we get home.  We play hard in the afternoons.  After supper you get a bath and we try to have you to bed by 8:30-9.  You are also still nursing three times a day (morning, after school, and night), otherwise you drink whole milk or apple juice/water.  You eat pretty much anything we do.

Funny/Favorite Moments

Mommy's Favorite: Seeing you with Little Cuz

Daddy's Favorite: Tailgating on Samford Lawn

Nicknames: any variation of Squirmy (Squirms, Squirmy Bug, and more), Doodle or Doodle Bug, Daddy calls you Big Man, Mommy calls you Little Man

Upcoming Events: a 5k, trip to Destin, and Thanksgiving!  We're really looking forward to 4 days off from school this month!

Thankful-1

So I've been trying to get Wesley to blog with me for awhile now, and he usually just rolls his eyes.  However, I came up with an idea of something we could do together and he agreed, sort of.  He told me he would 'talk' and I could just type it all up; so here we are!

I've seen on Facebook where everyday for the month of November, people post something that they are thankful for as their status.  I've (we've) decided to do this on the blog, since this is like our 'family scrapbook'.  Everyday for the next 30 days we will post something that our family is thankful for.  We're counting our blessings, I guess you could say.

We are really making efforts to focus on our family (more on that later in coming posts), so we're looking forward to really reflecting on all the Lord has done for us.  It also may result in multiple posts on some days (or just a long, random post) as we continue to document the life of our family, especially during the holiday season!

It makes sense, on the first of November, for us to tell you what we are MOST thankful for.  Thankful doesn't even express the depth of our gratitude, but we are thankful for a Savior who came to this Earth and died to become our sin that we may become His righteousness.  Christ died for you and desires you to have abundant life with him!  As thankful as we are for our salvation, we long for Eli to know Christ one day too:  more than anything else we desire.  We pray earnestly for this!

Oh, give thanks to the LORD!  Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples!

1 Chronicles 16:8

PS-We are trying to come up with a catchy title for this little series.  In trying to do this, Wesley reminded me that it is also "No-shave November"...I'd appreciate any other suggestions, haha!  : )