Two more days....

Twas the night before Spring, and all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse (well, actually, mice were probably stirring in many areas of the country, b/c winter was so slow in leaving, that they were scurrying into houses for warmth.)

The stockings and fleece hoodies were placed in the closets with care,
In hopes that they might not be needed again for wear,
The children were nustled all snug in their beds,
While visions of health danced in their parents' heads....and also visions of pools, short sleaved shirts, and beaches...
And Daddy in his nighties, and I in mine,
We both had settled down for a long winter's nap... Ok, well at least a two hour stretch until the baby woke us up to eat--uhgain.

When lo from the bedroom, we heard random sounds
Who was coughing? Was it croupy? The cold virus abounds.
I check on the baby again and again,
To be sure that the blanket is not enveloping his chin.

The moonlight shines through the window, I see,
And the cold, misty night sometimes seems to mock me:
"Ha ha ha!" says the wind, "Spring is still far away."
"Go on wishing," it taunts, "snow is coming, they say."

My spirits sink lower day after day
More sickness, more doctors, and more dismay...
I look out of the window, in search of hope
The clouds look back at me and announce a stark "nope!"

I go to the internet, try facebook, too
My baby is fussy... boo hoo hoo hoo!!
The kitchen looks more like a cage at the zoo
Coats, mittens, gloves, snow suits, and muddy goo.

Finally the calendar announces Spring's near.
I think to myself, happiness must be here.
But with one more round of a virus, winter leaves with a bang.
Will the Caulleys ever be healthy again?

Happiness eludes me, motivation too,
My hibernating soul colors winter blue,
My heart becomes heavy. There's a lump in my throat.
I'd rather not be sinking. I'd much rather float.

I have no motivation. Just when laundry is done,
I turn around, and see more: a LOT more: a ton!
Outside is no escape. Inside is no fun.

My psyche has suffered.
I feel mentally lame.
I'm emotionally crippled.
Someone help me! Explain!

Then through ways oh so soft, oh so gentle, I see
God at work. He is here. He is right beside me.
Sometimes I get angry, wish I saw Him more.
"Help me out, God!" I say "Pick me up off the floor."
He comes through, I feel Him.
He alone gives me strength.
It's true, especially now when I'm weak.

Sometimes it feels like the pile of dirt
that I sit in is dragging me down by my skirt.
Will I ever get out? Will the sun shine on us?
Will our family get passed this dull, miserable fuss?

Then God gently reminds me that peace can only be found
by focusing on Him... Not the waves all around.
Just like Peter emerging with faith from the boat,
We, too, sailed off, confidently afloat.

Yet also, like Peter, once out on our own,
We felt a lot less brave, stripped down to the bone.

So Jesus lends us his hand. We take it. We're saved.
He raises us up from the ashes of ourselves.
If only we could keep our eyes on Him all of the time.
He gently calls us up to Himself. Everyday.

So the secret is: instead of focusing on the winter, and allowing the enemy to dominate my thoughts with depressing thoughts, I must simply look to Jesus, and allow my negativity to die so that the *spring* of godly, uplifting thoughts can penetrate and the Holy Spirit can restore life to me again.
And how appropriate, afterall, this feeling of death. Because we contemplate Jesus' death and Resurrection during this time of year. Jesus: enveloping death, and then being raised up again. He is the epitome of life!!

So, Happy Spring to us all! And to all, a good night.

Caleb Thomas Caulley

Well, surely you predicted this one. ;)

Caleb is growing up! At his six month apt., he was in the 92nd percentile for height, and 50th percentile for weight. Maybe he'll be a basketball player?
Unfortunately, he had a cold, and I was told to put him back on the nebulizer because of rattling in his chest again. Poor kid. I feel like he has almost been more sick than healthy in his life so far... I wish that felt like an exageration. He absolutely LOVES his brothers. He eats well, for the most part. He loves people and faces. When we go to pick up Jon David from school, he looks around at the other mommies and smiles at them. They love it too!
Ironically, he seems to settle down in his car seat. To the point that I have even put him in there recently just to give him another place to be at peace. It's kinda funny!
When Don and I felt so poorly with stomach issues recently, he took three great naps. Thank goodness! He has had a lot of trouble with sleep. I don't know if it's because he has had ear infections, other illnesses, or just random... He is screaming as I am writing this. Oh, dear Lord, Please help that baby boy to be healthy and sleep!!!!!!!!

He does this cute thing with his hand when he tries to grab for toys, and when he nurses sometimes. It's like he just opens and closes his hand and lets his fingers scrape back and forth. It's kinda hard to describe. Maybe you can see is better with a video. It's not great, but it shows what I'm talking about a little bit.

Luke James Caulley

You knew it was coming, right? :)


This first two pics are a few wks old. Hee hee. Love it. Luke is still a precious cuddle bug.

He plays with his little brother so well. He and Jon David both are GREAT with him. And Caleb? Oh my goodness, well, his big brothers just hung, the moon, that's what.

Caleb: 6 mo.

I love it when Caleb catches Luke's hair! Too cute... not so comfy for Luke, though.


Luke had a circus performance at his school recently. He was a strongman. Too cute! I feel extremely blessed with his school and teacher. What an answer to prayers!

I was sort of thinking that he would probably be a little reserved because he is not exactly what I would call a "lime light" type of kid. Wrong!




Finally, sweet Luke caught the stomach bug the very next day... I HATE HATE HATE the stomach bug. But Luke is so sweet about it. He just sits on the chair and takes it. Ok, so I think even through his misery, it helped that we let him watch ALL of the star wars movies that we own! :)

His b-day is coming up... five years old!! Here are some pics that we took to make his invitations. Did you have any doubts about the theme?

Jonathan David Caulley

Jon David is growing up. He is coming into his own more and more every day. He got to be the "student teacher" last week in his class. He loves to do this. I'm assuming it means that he gets to be the teacher helper for the day. Whenever you do this, you get to also bring home the paper that Mrs. Moss fills out for circle time. Anyway, he brought home this large poster size piece of paper with their writing assignment on it. It looked like they must have brainstormed as a class as to what they would write. Here is what it looked like:



When Don came home that afternoon, he took one look at it and said "I know who that robot is." Pause. "It's Mommy!" Ha! Hmmmm. Not sure about that last one, though!

Well, I like to talk to Jon David about his friends. It is heart wrenching to occasionally pick up on something that probably hurt his feelings during the day. Truthfully, I probably worry about it way more than he does. Sometimes Don reminds me that I need to be careful not to inflict my own feelings on him. Also, there are a lot of instances where Jon David feels like he has a lot of friends, he is happy, he likes school, and life is good. ;) But on the days when he has a bad one, it's hard not to let my heart break for him. Anyway, when we were talking recently, I was asking him who he played with, who his friend was--like I often do. He said, You know Mom, I'm a free friend. I just play with anyone who needs one.
Yea, that warmed my heart.

March 2nd is Dr. Seuss' birthday, evidently. Well, Jon David loves Dr. Seuss. He wants to be a writer like him someday. He came home feeling inspired, and wrote the following: (by the way, he asked us first if it was OK to write about underwear. We said OK, but probably not at school.)
(See typed version below)
Here is the typed version:
"Floting undrwear"
Win I wok up and I was rada (ready) for my undrware
It floted away.
(please notice his use of quotation marks! Ha)
"I can not catch my undrwar."
It floted over a bear.
"I cannot catch my underwar."
it floted rite past my hare!
"I cannot catch my undrwer"
it floted past my cawculakr (calculator)!
it floted up enelevader! (an elevator)
I cot it! But it floted me arawnda tree (around a tree).
then I had to pay a fee!
and finele It dropt
it was more like a plop.
So I cod pot on my undrware (so I could put on my underwear)!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!. the end

So, what do you think? Are we looking at the work of the future Dr. Seuss? ;) Let me know if you want an autograph.

A couple of days ago, I was gettin a little worried again. Oh, I don't know, just worried about how he is doing in school... Doubting if it's OK for him to be in public school all day everyday. Wondering if we are raising him right, etc... I prayed that God would give me peace and wisdom. So that night, I'm tucking them into bed. We were talking about kindness. I read the questions at the end of the bible story. One was "when have you been kind to someone else?" Jon David said, "Well, sometimes, when we are in the lunch line, and Moshe (a classmate) is at the back, and I'm at the front, I'll go back there and ask him if he wants to swap places with me."
Well, thank you, Lord, thank you for protecting my precious son at school, for helping him to be a good boy. I need to remember this.

Today, Don took them to the park. During this time, I took a nap! Yay. When they returned, I was waking up slowly, still in bed. Jon David came back there to give me a hug. He asked if I had a good time here with Caleb or something like that. I said yes, but that I was still really tired for some reason. He said "Well let me leave you alone so you can rest." He walked back out the door, closing it quietly. I am getting choked up just remembering...

What a blessing. I love this sweet boy.


I think we may finally be ready to lose a tooth soon. He has been doing some teeth wiggling more and more... We'll see!


And as you can see, he has gotten so sweet about letting me take his picture. ;)