Who's curls are these?

Samuel is our first child to have his daddy's curls. Clayton has curly/wavy hair.. not that you can tell with his oh-so-fashionable state police, must be one inch or shorter, hair cut. Samuel's hair gets curlier the more it grows... and we all love it!! His new nick-name is "curly head" and he actually responds to it now. His hair on top is even growing out into waves! After two totally straight haired kids, this is quite a treat!

I haven't updated on the little man of the house in a while. He is so much fun right now! He is a full blown walker, toddling EVERYWHERE, and only stopping to crawl when he's in a really big hurry and he can't make his feet move as quickly as he needs to. He is a big talker; he says: mama, dada, bye-bye, bite (for his big food), uh-uh (with a head shake to mean "I can't have that"), uh-hu (with wide eyes and a reach for "I want that."), and he's starting to try to repeat most of what we say... well, the little words anyway. He's so much like Madison was at this age.

He's learned to throw fits, which is nothing short of hilarious. If only he knew that his fits just simply cannot match what his big brother can do.. he wouldn't waste his energy! The funny things is, he ONLY throws a fit about food. He is still obsessed with food. He loves to eat! When the food it gone, or you stand up to take the empty bowl to the sink that you were just feeding him out of, he immediately throws himself backwards (and hurts himself) and starts screaming, or he puts his head down between his feet (while sitting up) and hits the ground in anger.

Oh yes.. mealtime is always an adventure around here!

He is still the happiest baby I have ever seen. He's super easy to travel with and is generally content doing "whatever." He sleeps through the night most of the time (minus last week when he got another tooth in.. poor thing.) and is still nursing several times a day. His big number one birthday is next month... how has it been an entire year since he was born? He loves the cats, he loves all of our friends, and they all love him. I cannot explain what a blessing it is to walk into church now and have several people, immediately, ask to hold the baby, or offer to fix an older child's plate, or any other task that is so much appreciated! I feel like we have gained another set of parents with Lee Ann and Taylor. You guys, if you read this, are just AWESOME. :) Taylor is Carter's best friend (if you ask Carter), Samuel is as excited over LA being around as he is when I'm around, and Madison loves how they both are fun and play and talk with her. Seeing where we are now, as compared to two years ago, with friends, is just mind blowing. Even better, seeing how much I've learned about reaching out to people is mind blowing as well. Jeff preached yesterday about how God uses EVERYONE.. not just the perfect "christians".. to do his work. Boy is he right. In the past week, a certain person I've been really called to just hang out with, has told me how different their life is since we got to know each other. I'll stop there... but it's a huge deal, and nothing I EVER could have accomplished myself. God is good, and he does give strength where and when we need it, if we just follow him. I'll be honest, this relationship started off and I did not see a big future for it. I never would have imagined where God would have taken us. I for sure never would have imagined praying with this person and sharing God's word with them. I've never thought I was good at "that stuff".... but God gave me words I did not have, and the ability to say them without being offensive. (huge for me) I'd have to start an entire new post, and I may soon, to say all that has changed in my life in the past few months. It's simply amazing... I have no other word to describe it. For the first time EVER I have peace. REAL peace. Brandy F. used to always talk to me about 'joy' and how true joy in God is not dependant upon your circumstances. "what?" lol That's what I thought about that. I had no idea what she was talking about.. until now. I've had some really rough times in the past few months.. but I'm still full of joy. It's an amazing feeling to really feel called to something greater. Greater than your life. Greater than your friends. Even greater than your family. I know this will not always be the case.. I know that "quiet rest" will come. I'm just soaking up this phase God has me in right now.. because it's just so wonderful. I don't want it to end, but I know it must. It must because if it never ended, I'd never move to the next phase.. whatever that is!

Wow.. I didn't mean to turn this Samuel post into all of this! I guess it was meant to be shared.