Thursday, July 29, 2010

Because I love him =)

Today is my husband's birthday. I love him so much but I am not very good at verbally expressing how I feel (just ask him) so I decided I would publicly declare my love for him to the cyber world =)
Thirteen years ago, I started the eighth grade at Vandalia Christian School. We were getting a new student in our class named "Cletis Titus" and we were all wondering what this redneck or possibly African-American kid was going to be like. It turned out he was a super-cute. athletic guy with a Nick Carter hair cut (those were totally in back then.) It didn't take long for me to figure out that I really wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure he didn't know I existed. So I went on my merry, dating way and dated 2 or 3 guys (who's counting?). I had always had a place for him though in the back of my heart. There was just something about him. He wasn't the most popular guy in our class, although most of the girls would have loved to have "gone out" with him. He wasn't a class clown but he was very funny and always had (and still does) a witty comeback or zinger to through at someone. But besides that I think what attracted me most to him was and is his character. In my mind he had so much integrity and wisdom. And I wasn't the only one that saw that in him. Not to say he never got in trouble but there was something about the way he handled things and people that I admired (and he did tend to man-handle some of the guys at school, which I also found attractive.) Anyway, thanks to my now mother-in-law and a certain sister-in-law who is about to get married herself, he finally noticed me. I had to break up with my boyfriend first but we started dating the second semester of my senior year. I honestly can't remember life without him and really don't care to.
I could not have asked for a more godly husband or a better best friend. We have been through so much and I would not have wanted to go through it with anyone else. He has taught me so much and I am grateful for his patience with me. He has been such an encouragement to me in my walk with the Lord and in the things I struggle with. He is an amazing daddy to our two precious children. Hailey adores him. She can't wait till he gets home from work everyday and loves to go on dates with him. I know Caleb will adore him also but right now his clothes tell how he is thinking =) We just love Randy so much and thank God for the blessing of a man that He put in our lives! Happy 25th BIrthday Randy!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Our sweet Caleb

Our sweet Caleb is 2 months old today. I can't believe it has been 2 months already! He is such a sweet (and fat!) baby. His Nena (Randy's mom) wrote this about the day he was born and I wanted to share it because I thought it was so sweet....




It is spring in North Carolina. The grass is as green as I have ever seen it....perhaps that is because I rarely see pretty green grass anymore. Everything is in bloom..and my itchy eyes alert me to that each day. There are budding flowers and signs of new life everywhere. New Life....nothing better. I arrived back in North Carolina on Mothers Day and just in time for the birth of our third grandchild, Caleb Joshua Titus. He is 6 lbs 11 oz of pure preciousness-sent straight from Heaven. (Think I'm kiddin'? Check out the attached picture!) He is also the spitting image of his daddy, our oldest son Randy. He is of course beautiful....and a reminder of all things new. A brand new little human miracle from God. The day he was born we also realized that there were four more new additions born on the Titus property. As Hailey (Caleb's big sister) and I were swinging on the front porch swing that evening, we noticed four little baby birds had hatched in their nest in the bush beside the front porch. We snuck over and peeked in to see four little featherless chicks just chirping away for their mommy to return with their meal for the day. (I captured the moment in an awesome picture) It was a teachable moment as Hailey and I talked about what a great God we have, the God that not only gave us Caleb out of mommy's tummy that morning, but also the God that gave us new life in the four little baby birds all snuggled up in their nest. Each day since then we always stop to sneak a peek at the growing baby birds and marvel at our great God's creation. Something so simple, yet so profound. A creator that gives us little baby Titus'es is the same creator that gives us little baby birds....and He loves and cares for us all.
This is just another rambling of one tired Jamerican.....SELAH

Monday, July 12, 2010

"God is sad. Him needs his mommy."


It has been a while since I have posted. About five months to be exact. Our sweet little Hailey is getting to be such a big girl. I was going to do another post about "hailey-isms" but her speech has gotten so good that you (or at least I) can understand most of what she is saying. I do however, need to write down the things that she is saying because there is almost nothing better than the thoughts of a 2-year-old.
This morning she and I were sitting down reading her little Bible and we were talking about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and it was talking about how it makes God sad when we disobey Him. I was trying to explain it to her in a way she could understand. She sat there for a minute with a sad look on her face and said "God is sad. Him needs his mommy." I honestly didn't know what to say. Can you explain to a 2-year-old that God doesn't exactly have a mommy? And then we were doing the questions at the end of the story and the first one was "Can you think of something you have done to disobey your mom and dad." She replied after a moment to think, "Yeah...I dit out of my bed." HALLELUJAH!...she is learning! It's the little things , ya know!
As most of you know we have added a new addition to our home, Caleb Joshua Titus. He has melted my heart already. He is so sweet and cuddly. I love seeing Hailey interact with him, too. It is just so sweet. She is always telling me " Mommy, he tho thweet" and "mommy, him pwecious" and "Mommy, him twying. Him needs hith pathy." I am surprised how gentle she is with him. She is not normally a rambunctious kid but i didn't expect her to be as gentle as she is with him.
As good as she has been, I know it has been hard on her not getting as much attention as she was getting before her little brother came along. She has had her share of meltdowns but she really has been great. I have been trying to take her out once a week even if it's just a couple of hours just so I can spend some time just me and her. I have been taking her to the water park the last couple of weeks. She loves to go on dates. I'm not sure if she considers it a date when it's just me and her. She usually goes on dates with her daddy and her Beepa (my dad.) Either way I enjoy my time with her. If you take her on a date and ask her where she wants to go she will more than likely tell you she wants to go to "Chit-Lay" (Chick-fl-A.) And if you ask her what she wants to eat she has her list down pat of what she wants...." Chitten, fwies, chotalate molt, and ithe tweem." If you didn't catch that, it was chicken, fries, chocolate milk, and ice cream. Healthy and nutritious, I know. But it's a date. You're allowed to splurge on a date, right?
Last story for the day...our pastor's wife, Holly, is Hailey's buddy, and every wednesday and friday we go over to the church to see Holly and Holly gives her candy. Holly has taught Hailey about putting candy in her pockets. So now, every time she wears something that has pockets on it she thinks she needs some candy to put in it. Yesterday morning, i put a little sundress on her and it had pockets. When I got the dress on her, she immediately put her hands in her pockets and said, "Mommy, I dot pottets! I need tanny for my pottets!" Like I said, it's the little things in life =)