Bikes, a Trophy, and Tears

As first-time kindergarten parents, we have had several new experiences this school year.  Recently, we were able to watch our kids participate in the "Bike Rodeo" at their school.  This is an event in which kids can bring their bikes to school, and then they compete in different challenges.  This year, the students had to ride in a straight line, ride their bike as slowly as possible, ride around cones, brake in a specific area, and have their bike inspected.  They were scored on each challenge.  

Our kids have been riding balance bikes for a couple of years, and even though they had long outgrown them, we just continued to let them ride them around.  A couple months ago, we decided it was time to get them "big kid bikes" so we went one weekend and picked them out.  R&R were excited to try out the big bikes, but after riding them for a few minutes, would always go back to their little balance bikes.  

The week of the Bike Rodeo we really encouraged the kids to ride their big bikes to practice, since they wouldn't be able to use their balance bikes in the event.  But every day, after riding for a few minutes on the big bikes, the kids would end up riding their balance bikes.  Let's just say that we did not have high expectations for the Bike Rodeo, but were thrilled that both Rhett and Rhys wanted to participate.

The morning of the Bike Rodeo came, and it was actually cool outside! 

All lined up and ready to go!  R&R were the last 2 kindergarten kids to compete.

First stop was to get the bike inspected.

Since our bikes were almost new, R&R did good on the inspection.  I think they had points taken off for using training wheels, and also for not having a flashing light.

Here is Rhett going around the cones.

 Rhett trying to brake as close to the block as possible, without knocking it down.

Rhett riding between the lines.  Do you see all the little heads at the bottom of the picture?  Those are the kids who were not participating and they were cheering on their friends.  It was SO cute!

Look at Rhys' face on this one!  This picture show the fun attitude she had the whole time.  I think she laughed through the whole event!

Rhys riding between the lines.

And of course Bryn was there to cheer on her big bro and sis (and to chew on a cup!)

The kids had a blast, and it was fun watching them.  

A week after the Bike Rodeo was over, I had run into HEB  to pick up a few things before going to pick up the kids from school.  The kids were having an awards ceremony for the 1st nine weeks of school that afternoon, and I had thought about going, but decided not to.  I knew the ceremony was going to be recognizing the kids with all As, perfect attendance, box top winners, etc. but I didn't really think I needed to be there for anything.

A few minutes later, I got a text from a friend saying "Rhett just won the Bike Rodeo for kindergarten!"

WHAT?!  She sent me a picture of him with his trophy.  Of course I thought he did great at the event, but we had no idea that he would win first place!  I was disappointed that I had not made it to the assembly, and I couldn't wait to pick him up from school that day!

As I stood in the HEB check-out line, tears just started running down my cheeks.

Yes, I was proud of Rhett and excited that he won.  But it wasn't just about winning.

You see, that trophy means more than just 1st place.

That trophy is a reminder of God's faithfulness. Of his goodness. And of answered prayer.

That trophy is a testament to who God is.

As many of you know, when Rhett was an infant, we did not know if he would ever walk, run, or ride a bicycle.  The unknowns were scary.  And even when we were told that he would be able to walk, run, and ride a bike, we weren't sure what that was going to look like.

And 5 years later, that boy was not only participating in the Bike Rodeo, he won 1st place!

God is so, so good.

And I know in my heart that even if Rhett were not able to walk, run, or ride a bike, God would still be faithful. He would still be good.  And He would still reveal himself to me, likely through my children.

So I stood there in HEB and let those tears fall, with a smile on my face.  Because He is so, so good to me.

Be Still and Know That I'm Is God

Sometimes before bed Rhys will ask me to sing to her.  About a year ago, she had a certain order of songs that she liked:  Wheels on the Bus, R-E-D, and Itsy Bitsy Spider.  After about age 3.5, she started asking me to sing her some of "your songs, mommy."  After asking her a lot of questions, I figured out that she wanted me to sing her the songs that we sing at church or that she listens to on my phone when I run. Her new favorite quickly became Hillsong United's Oceans.  So we sang that every night for several weeks.  More recently, she wanted me to sing her some new songs.  Let me say that at bedtime, like most moms, my brain is DONE.  I was having a hard time coming up with any song, much less one that was "new" to her.  One Sunday night (after singing Be Still and Know that I am God in church that morning) I started singing it to her.  She fell in love.  Even to this day, you might hear Rhys humming or singing this song.  I was able to capture her singing on a little video.

I pray that her heart will always remember this truth and she will go to this verse (and song) throughout her life.

"Be Still and Know that I'm Is God" by Rhys Bennett, age 3 (almost 4) at the time of recording:

Summer Weekend

We didn't do anything out of the ordinary this weekend, but just want to remember a typical summer weekend...

We went swimming at the neighborhood pool!

R&R were not really into playing in the baby pool.  They just sat on the step and stayed close to us.  We thought they were just scared.  We took them into the big pool and they loved it.  Interesting.

While I was putting away clothes upstairs, R&R found a rubbermaid bin of baby toys I had packed away.  They loved playing with all the toys, but mostly wanted to play "in" the storage bin!

We spent some time at the park...

And got new water bottles!  I let R&R each pick out their own.

We made oatmeal raisin cookies together.  Rhys loved stirring, and Rhett loved pouring.  Teamwork!

We took some great naps...daddy even let Rhett take about 20 stuffed animals into his bed!

We ended our weekend with a wonderful fellowship night with our small group from church.

Rhys enjoyed a very large cheese stick!

After all the other families left, we stayed and played with the Kirkland twins.  The kids had a blast climbing and playing in the sand.  We enjoyed the good food and conversation.

Sure do love our summer weekends together!

Breakfast with Santa

The children's ministry at our church puts on an annual "Breakfast with Santa" and I have been looking forward to taking the twins for a while now.  We were excited that Bdad and Gram were also here visiting for the weekend, so they were able to join us.

We started our morning visiting with our children's minister, Ms. Tina.  She gave each child a mug with hot cocoa mix inside.  R&R adore Ms. Tina and we are so thankful for her love and service to the children at Northside.

Then we made our way to see Santa! The auditorium was dark and there was a nice fire glowing in the fireplace (or on the screen) and it was a nice touch to the ambiance.  

When we got closer to Santa, Rhys started digging her nails into my shoulder.  She was freaking out a little bit.  It was at this point that I lowered my expectations on the quality of Santa pic that we were going to get this year.  Bdad took Rhett right up to Santa to see what he would do.

Rhett was cautious, but he seemed to be okay with it all at first.  I think he would have done okay if he hadn't seen Rhys getting upset.

Then we just decided to hand the babies to Santa and snap a picture as quick as we could.  This was what happened:

Well, that went better than expected.

After Santa pics were complete, we rescued the twins and took them to have a nice pancake breakfast.  Once they saw the red and green pancakes, all the tears disappeared and we were having fun again!

 Rhett making sure we get plenty of marshmallows to eat with our pancakes

enjoying a yummy breakfast (Rhett wanted strawberries/Rhys wanted bananas/I got the pancakes!)

We were so thrilled that our friends Nathan and Ryland were also there for the fun. 

Ryland showing Rhys a video...he is so sweet with her!

 Rhett hanging out with Gram

SO fun to see a very dear friend Allison and her daughter Bethany who were in town visiting

Rhett exploring with Bdad

After a yummy breakfast, we made ornaments.  Rhys made a candy cane and Rhett made a gingerbread man.  They smell so good and are hanging proudly on our tree!

We had a wonderful time!  Thank you Northside!

AFC Reunion

A couple weeks ago we headed to College Station (WHOOP!) to be a part of the 40th anniversary of the Aggies for Christ.  The AFC is special to us because Tim and I met through the outreach of the A&M Church of Christ and this college ministry.  We were very involved in this ministry during our time at Texas A&M.

As an added bonus, Tim has a lot of Aggies in his family, and many of them were able to join in for the weekend as well.  On Friday, we drove into College Station, checked into our hotel, and then met some of Tim's family for dinner.  A big thank you to Wes for organizing it all.  We had dinner with Wes, Pam and Caleb, Aunt Bettie, Bdad and Gram, and Paul and Susan.

R&R were ready to eat!  I had brought dinner for them, but they really enjoyed the spanish rice I fed them off my plate.  :)

They both loved sitting with Paul and Susan.   Actually, they loved everything about Paul and Susan.  When Paul ordered his dinner, Rhett started laughing.  And then laughed every time Paul talked.  Here is Rhys getting tickled by a very funny cousin Susan.  We had such a good time....just look at the man at the table behind us enjoying our fun, too!

Thanks Paul and Susan for entertaining our kids!

During dinner, I looked up and saw Rhett squinting.  I wasn't sure what he was doing.  Susan told us that she had been winking at Rhett and it looked like he was trying to wink back.  Thank goodness Tim snapped a quick video because this was too funny!

Rhett had a great time staring out the window.  He was trying to figure out how to get outside.

Then he smashed his face up against the window like this.

So cute!

Enjoying some hugs from Susan.

After dinner, we headed over to Wes and Pam's for a while to visit and hang out.  R&R chased around their adorable, and very patient puppy, while Tim ate a gallon of Pam's homemade chocolate dip and we all visited.  A big thank you to Wes and Pam for having us all over!  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pics of all the fun that we had there.

We then headed to our hotel to put the babies down for the night.  I was really worried about them getting to sleep, and it took about 30-40 minutes to settle them down, but then they both slept through the night.  Yay for good sleep away from home!

Rhys loved playing in the hotel and was obsessed with the air conditioner.  She would take the temperature knob off, hand it to us, and then watch us put it back on.  Then she would take it off again, hand it to us, etc.  Rhett just stayed close to the door while playing.  He was trying to escape, I think.  Every time the door opened he would try to get outside.

We hung out at the hotel Saturday morning for breakfast and naps, and then went up to the church for a special luncheon.  It was so neat to see so many of our friends from college.  We had a nice time visiting and catching up with a lot of different people.  I will say that it was so weird to see all of our friends with kids!  ;)  

Here is Rhys hanging out with Bdad during the lunch and fellowship time.

R&R had fun having lunch with Lauren, Camryn, and Addison, who are their 2nd cousins-twice-removed. (Is that right, Paul?)  Lauren and Camryn even helped R&R with their sippy cups when they dropped them....over and over again.  It was really sweet.  Can't wait to get these cousins together again soon.

Saturday afternoon we headed to Brenham to see my mom.  Once we got there, R&R went straight for the toy box.  My mom has a nice collection of very random things for the twins to play with.  And, of course, they love it.

Even though there are tons of toys, they want to play with the same one.

We put the babies to bed early and my mom graciously agreed to "twinsit" for us so that we could go back to College Station for more of the activities.  We took her up on her offer and ran out the door!  :)    Tim took me to Layne's for dinner.  Layne's is a restaurant that we used to love in college.  All they sell is chicken tenders, texas toast, cole slaw and french fries.  They have a special sauce they make to eat with the chicken and Tim could drink the stuff he loves it so much.  We were excited to eat there, but did feel very old pulling into the parking lot in our mini van!

After dinner we went up to campus for a devotional.  One of the things I loved most about the Aggies for Christ when I was in college was the Tuesday night devotionals on campus.  Every week, around 9 pm, hundreds of students would gather on campus to sing and worship together.   And this devotional, too, did not disappoint.  The singing was unbelievable.

After the devotional was over, there was lots of hugging, laughing, and visiting between friends.  We enjoyed seeing many of our college friends.

One of our sweet friends, Paige and me

Trisha, Amanda, Annabelle, and John

And we even got to see some of our dear Thai friends, too!  Kinnaree, Rung, and Jason

We love Bob & Myrt Davidson!  They are the original "founders" of the AFC.  This couple means so much to Tim and me.  We so admire their marriage, ministry and love of people.

Before we left campus, we walked around a little and checked out the new student center that was just remodeled.  I wish that we had had more time to look around, but it was getting late and we needed to get back to Brenham.

Tim and me at the fountain outside the Memorial Student Center

Sugar took great care of the babies and everyone was sound asleep when we got home.  We got up Sunday morning and headed back to College Station for church.

After lunch, Bdad and Gram entertained R&R so Tim and I could visit with friends some more.  We are so thankful for wonderful grandparents!

Here are Bob and Myrt with Bdad, Gram & babies

We left College Station Sunday afternoon tired, encouraged, and feeling old!  :)    We drove to New Braunfels and decided to stop to feed the babies dinner.  Of course Tim knew of just the place!  We feasted at Herbert's Taco Hut.  The babies ate their fill of mexican food and then we walked down along the river, which was right next to the restaurant.  R&R liked getting their toes wet! :)  

We had a wonderful weekend!  We feel so blessed to have been a part of such a powerful ministry, and pray that the Aggies for Christ has another 40 years of success.