Six to Ten Months

*To those of you who still check this thing once in a blue moon, thanks. And if you haven't heard, our family packed up and moved to MO in January! Fred started as pastor of a church in Washington, just outside of St. Louis. We absolutely love our new church family and have already felt so welcomed, encouraged, and loved. Not knowing what to expect as far as selling our house, we moved in with my parents during the transition of selling in Macon and buying or renting in Washington. Amazingly, our house sold after 12 days on the market. Lord willing, we will close on Friday. We are so thankful that it happened so quickly. We are also so very thankful for my parents being so gracious in letting us literally invade their house! They have been great and it's been so fun for the kids to be loved on by Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Ash every day!
*This is a blog that I apparently started quite a few months ago...the original title was 6 to 6 months...but obviously that is a bit outdated! And although there is SO very much of our life that I have failed to blog about, this is where I'm going to start!

An Update on each of our little loves...

Joshua::6

Joshua turned 6 in September. (Yep, pretty sure that I didn't blog about that. Sigh.) He is one fun, silly, thinker of a kid. He has hit some pretty big milestones this year. At the end of the summer, he really took off with riding his bike without training wheels. He is also really doing a great job of reading. He has been able to sound words out for a long time, but it seems like lately his confidence and speed have really picked up. He is reading anything that we put in front of him! I was busy getting Ezra down for a nap the other day and overheard him climb into bed with Caleb, read him a book before naptime, pray with him, turn on his fan and close the door. What precious sounds for a mamma to hear!!! He is definitely a typical first born in a lot of ways. He sees things very black and white. Fairness is very important to him. He does not like to try new things if he feels unsure or fears that he won't succeed. He has great and deep thoughts about God and loves to read His Word. He can memorize Scripture or anything else better than any of us! Joshua has very high expectations on how things should happen, which we are learning to help him be realistic about (ie: birthdays, special outings). He craves special time with both me and Fred...which is something that we have to be very mindful of since it's so easy to just expect him to do things on his own sometimes. He's not quite as outgoing as he once was...partly I think because he finds his siblings loudness and outspokenness very amusing in public situations!:) Joshua, I love your unique, thoughtful, creative, analytical 6 year old self!!!!

Anna Bell::5

Oh, sweet Anna Bell! She is about as free-spirited as they come. She is fun-loving, carefree, compassionate, and feisty. She sincerely loves life. And although the biggest battle we have is dealing with emotions, we have come a long way!!! I think back to a year ago and remember that this is what we prayed over her most often aside from salvation: that we would help her to submit her emotions to the authority of God. We have seen a lot of growth in maturity in the past few months. Anna Bell is helpful, caring, and loves to bless others and honor God. She has a tender heart for those in need. Anna Bell is possibly our most competitive child which is at times a challenge. She definitely got a bit of her mamma's stubbornness:) She loves animals more than princesses, which bodes well for a girl with 3 brothers. Belly is left-handed just like her Paw Paw. She loves to please but also marches to the beat of her own drum. You are a blessing to us, little Bell Bell! You bring such life, excitement and laughs to the Broome house!

Caleb::3

Oh, little Caleb. With so many transitions in about a 6 month period (big bed, potty-training, no more paci, and baby brother) we saw a pretty big change (explosion!) in this little guy's personality. The compliant, easy-going 3rd child became quite a little fire cracker! Caleb has definitely decided to let his opinions be known and express a great deal of independence but is still so very tender-hearted. A stern word is enough for Caleb to fall apart into a puddle of tears...this is very new to us seeing as how J and AB are much more thick-skinned when it comes to discipline. Caleb is sweet, cuddly, and absolutely adores his siblings. He is quite the little athlete and is pretty amazing to watch on his little strider bike. He looks like a little x games pro coasting around on that thing! Caleb is still our best sleeper. He loves books, anything with wheels, but most of all~ his people. He is loyal and very affectionate. His favorite Bible stories are Joseph and his brothers and Joshua and the walls of Jericho. Caleb, you are a treasure. I am one blessed mommy who gets so many of your sweet hugs everyday!

Ezra::

Ezra will be 10 months old tomorrow. Ten months!!! He is officially the world's happiest and easiest baby. He cackle laughs at his siblings all throughout the day and loves to watch them in all their craziness. He loves to be held but is very content to sit and play as well. And when I say content to sit...I really mean content to sit~ he seems to be in no hurry to get to crawling or not even close to wanting to pull up. He will do a sort of army crawl if something is out of his reach that he really wants, but this doesn't happen that often. He is one sweet little boy! We have moved from baby food to pretty much all solids. He'll pretty much eat anything that we give him so far. After a growth spurt/the adjustment of sleeping in our room while we are living with my parents/finally giving in and giving a couple ounces of formula before bed, he is back to sleeping through the night. We had a pretty long stretch there of him waking up in the middle of the night again. And although I don't even mind the sweet time with him like I did with the firsts, feeling more rested is such a blessing! Ezra is our only brown-eyed babe. Everyone says that he favors my side more than Fred's and I have to agree. He is still toothless. Ezra loves to talk/babble. His distinguishable words so far are mama, dada, bye, hi. He is very good at mimicking sing-songy language and loves music. He is so close to clapping but those little hands just haven't quite connected yet. Ezra waves hello and goodbye and does the precious "so big" by putting both of his hands high in the air when you ask "how big is Ezra?" Oh, I love this little boy! Ezra, you are completely and totally adored by our entire family. We are loving figuring you out and watching your little personality unfold. We can't wait to see the person that God has created you to be!!!

So there you have it, my first "real blog" in many months! And as I just reread it, I feel that it's a little rose-colored. I don't ever want to paint a picture of our lives being filled with sweet moments of perfect parenting and always obedient children. Because that's not us. Life is indeed sweet and we are undoubtedly blessed beyond measure, but honestly, these last few months have been pretty tough. I feel inadequate as a parent and new pastor's wife on a daily basis. God has used this season of saying goodbye to beloved friends and church family to grow me deeper with Him. But I've felt very vulnerable and raw, which is something I'm not at all comfortable with! My verse for the year is "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it." That is my promise. That is my hope secured. Jesus is faithful. He's called me out of my comfort zone to serve and love Fred and our 4 littles beyond what I'm capable of. He's called me to be a pastor's wife- to the praise of His glory. And I'm not even sure what that looks like yet, but I'm excited about it because He is able and faithful!