Dylan's 7th Birthday (with a visitor!)

Seven years ago, God sent us Dylan Michael Poff, and that new life marked the beginning of many changes to come. I became a stay-at-home mom (and eventually a homeschooling mom), we started going to church, gave our hearts to the Lord, got baptized, and many more things from there.

Seven years ago, we drove through a blizzard (which is strange to think of now as we are having a 65 degree down here today) and Dylan was born Feb. 24th, 2001, at 4:50 a.m. Since it was also my mom's birthday, we called her up that morning and wished her a happy birthday and said that she could come see her birthday present at Mercy Hospital! Here's his 6-month picture:

Here's when he was 2 1/2:

And when he was 3 1/2:

Now, at age 7, we are really getting to see all the wonderful gifts and characteristics God has given him to make him unique. When he was 2 and 3, we used to call him Pastor Dyl, because he loved listening to praise music, read Bible storybooks, and talk about Jesus. We have recently resumed that nickname as he has resumed these behaviors! We are so thankful that God has big plans for Dylan!
Dylan wanted a frog cake (which is exactly the same as his 2nd birthday-he's LOVED frogs his entire life. The only natural thing we had to color the frosting with was pureed strawberries, so we made a girl frog. (You can't see the back legs from this picture, but you get the point!) He also wanted to help make his favorite breakfast, which was my apple-cinnamon-flaxseed oatmeal.

(He's not really that skinny--he was sucking in to reach the back of the stove without hitting the oven handle!)

Now, the birthday visitor I referred to; the Lord knows how much Dylan likes seeing all sorts of creatures, and sent him this right in our own backyard:

Look closely, and you'll find an armadillo! I went into Faith's room to open up her blinds for the window facing our backyard, and screamed when I saw this guy running around out there. Everyone in the house jumped (Justine probably did too since I was on the phone with her) and thought I was kidding when I yelled, "There's an armadillo in our backyard!" We know that it was an extra special little gift from God for Dyl's birthday because we read that these guys don't come out during the day usually and when they do, it's got to be cloudy because they have very sensitive eyes. Well it was a beautiful, sunny afternoon and there he was! Not exactly something us Minnesotans are used to seeing! Thanks God for your wonderful creation. (I hope I'll still be saying that about the local wildlife this summer!) Happy 7th Birthday Dylan!

Dylan's 7th Birthday! (sorry about the advertisement with this one:(

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Faith's 1st Rebirthday!

Today we celebrated Faith's rebirthday. It's been one year since she asked Jesus into her heart and become reborn. Instead of cake, she wanted carob chip cookies. So we put one candle into her cookie and sang "Happy Rebirthday." Daddy brought home flowers for her and we spent the day discussing ways that we act differently after we are reborn and all the wonderful things that come with being a daughter of The King. Papa asked what a rebirthday is, and we explained to him that it's a celebration of the day when you are reborn. We discussed that we all have a physical birth and then for those of us who believe and confess that Jesus is Lord, have a spiritual birth in which we are reborn and adopted into God's family. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:3: . . ."no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

I'll never forget that special day one year ago. (The above picture was taken around that time a year ago.) We were reading our Bible study for school that morning and Faith, out of the blue, said that she wanted to say that special prayer for Jesus to be in her heart. I asked her if she was sure and explained more what it meant. She said she was sure and so we prayed together. I couldn't believe the maturity she displayed but then quickly remembered that God did name her "Faith." We immediately called Daddy at work and told him. He was sad that he couldn't be there, but was really surprised and excited. Our beautiful little Faith!

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1

Gabriel Titus, aka "Mighty Man of God"

Just a little over a week ago, Gabie had his 2nd birthday. It's so strange to think that two years ago, we were in Minnesota at Mercy Hospital with our little preemie. I'll never forget the day I went into labor. It was the first of those two days in January '06 that the temp was 50 degrees. I really wanted to take the kids outside, but wasn't feeling very well. I told them we would play outside as soon as we got back home from my doctor's appointment. So I went in, and they told me I was in labor. They said they probably couldn't stop it but it would be okay since he was only about 5 weeks early. I called Pete up and told him to come to the hospital. So I brought Vince, Dylan, and Faith along as I checked into the labor and delivery unit and waited for Pete. I told the kids that it didn't look like we were going to get to enjoy the unusually warm weather, but they would get a new baby brother!

As with most kids, the older Gabie gets, the more capable he becomes. Learning to open doors, climb on furniture, take and hide things, and emptying bins of toys definitely keeps me busy. Just the other day, I walked into the kitchen looking for Gabie and noticed movement through the crack of the pantry door. This is what I found:

Gabie had found a bag of animal crackers and helped himself. Judging from the look on his face and the way he pushed his hand out toward me, I think he knew he was being naughty! This was his reaction to me busting him:

(Notice the bulge in his cheek!) Another milestone included eating his first sandwich cookie. We bought the organic version of oreo cookies and without hesitation, Gabie twisted the cookie open and started licking the cream out. Now, mind you, we haven't had sandwich cookies for at least 6 months so we're still not sure how he knew to do this. I guess some things just come naturally!

Well, our schedule got a little messed up on Gabie's birthday, so he ended up taking a really late nap. When dinner was ready and Gabie was still sleeping, the kids went in and woke him up. They tried singing and dancing, but he was just so tired! Poor guy!

Birthdays around our house mean you get your favorite meals all day. For Gabie, that meant fruit and cheese all day long. We made strawberry cupcakes and fruit salad for dinner (among other things). Gabie doesn't care much for meat or veggies, so he stuck with the fruit and bread. The other kids got really anxious when Gabie wanted to make sure to finish eating his cupcake before opening any gifts.

Gabie finally decided the cupcake could wait and finished ripping open the gifts that the other kids had helped get started. Vince has been making things out of duct tape and made Gabie a really neat oversized bib with a catch pocket on the front-all out of duct tape. Gabie won't keep it on yet though!
We were definitely sad to not be able to have many friends and extended family

share this special day with us, but we were so blessed to have Papa (my dad) there.

Thanks everyone for the gifts you sent. Gabie especially liked the birthday cards!

We just pray that his name becomes the path for his life. We chose "Gabriel" because it is a name hand-chosen by God for one of his best and most loyal angels in the Bible and means "mighty man" or "man of God". If you read the short book of Titus, you'll see that Titus was a young but fiery preacher of the gospel in early Christianity. We know God has big plans for you little one!

I Know What You're Thinking. . .

We know you're all wondering how the weather's been, or maybe some of you don't want to know. Well, this past Thursday, we had a big snow storm forecasted. Before the storm even hit, practically all the schools in NE Oklahoma were cancelled cuz that's how they do it down here. They forecasted 5 to 8 inches so we buckled down and got ready. It turns out that everyone here says they always overestimate and get panicky and we actually only got about 2 inches of snow. Some schools still stayed cancelled on Friday too, but those were the counties that ended up getting closer to 5 inches or more. Can you believe it? That's such a joke to us Minnesotans! Here's a picture of the snow we got up to 3pm on Thursday:

A little more fell that night and then this is what it looked like less than 24 hours later (Friday afternoon-with no shovel ever touching the driveway!):

Faith was crying and I asked her what was wrong. She said that she was sad because she didn't want the snow to be gone already. She thought it was really weird that the snow is already gone the next day. But I knew it would be like that, so I had sent them outside and made sure they played in it on Thursday before it was gone.

Only 3 days after the snow on Sunday, we visited the park after church. The high hit about 74 degrees and, as always in OK, sunny. It felt soooooo good.

Papa was there to enjoy the day with us too.

Today, the high hit 80 degrees! It felt really strange to wear shorts and t-shirts in February, but you won't hear us complaining!

Vince brushed up on his lacrosse skills,

And Dylan, with his Minnesota Twins hat on of course!

After dinner, it felt like perfect weather to go for a walk, except one problem: it was dark. Duh, you might say. But correct if I'm wrong; when it's 78 degrees, it usually doesn't get dark at 5:30 pm, right?!! Tomorrow the high is forecasted to be in the upper 40's. I guess you're just supposed to get used to the rollercoaster weather down here. I sure am glad we didn't have any storms from the weird weather tonight though!