THE YEAR 2010

We will remain confident in the Lord's direction for our lives....

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Another 1st

Well, I finally did it!!! I took Jaydon to have his first haircut last Thursday. Yes, I finally broke down and did it. I had a little help from Garth mentioning almost everyday that his son needed a haircut. Jaydon did great considering he had to sit still for longer than one minute. I, of course, have a little baggy full of long locks to put in his baby book. I miss his long wavy hair, but since the haircut no one has mistaken him for a girl. He truly does look like a little boy now. Here are some before and after pictures:

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Here You Go........

I love my boys. I think God speaks to us where we are in life. So, maybe, because I am a mom of two young boys, it is a relavent way for me to be taught by Him.

Jaydon plays a game, and because I lack any sort of creativity, I call it "Here you go". The rules of the game are that he holds out an object towards me and says "here you go" and I take the object and say "thank you". Strangely, Jaydon can happily pass an object back and forth for quite a while. Usually I don't mind playing; however, today he picked the most inopportune time to play. We were trying to get ready to go to a friends house for a 1st birthday party. I thought that I would ignoranty try to put on a little makeup and fix the hair. Jaydon on the other hand had a magnificent idea to play "here you go" with the q-tips out of the bathroom cabinet. (I know, q-tips are probably not the best thing for a 14 month old to play with, but he was happy.) :) Being all the the while annoyed, I managed to do my best to get ready with one hand and play the game with the other hand.

Isn't it funny how God can use these little moments to teach great lessons. This is what God taught me through Jaydon today.........

God wants to play the "here you go" game. Think about it!! We carry so much stuff around with us. We are constantly weighed down with the cares of this world. Yet we have a Father who wants us to be free and is patiently waiting for us to say "Here YOU Go". He will not be annoyed or say He doesn't have time to hear our stuggles or hold our burdens. He desperatley wants us to choose to play the game, so He can be the Father to us He desires to be. He wants us to pick up our struggles, heartaches, hurts, etc. and give them over to Him, so He can say "thank you my child" and allow us to rest knowing that He now has everything under control because we have relinquished control.

With that said, I pray I will learn to play "here you go" more often with God. I hope this little entry inspires you to play "here you go" with the Father too.

Many blessings!!

Monday, October 15, 2007

Fun-filled Weekend










Well, Garth and I are now officially parents of a six year old. Unbelievable!!! Dylan turned six this weekend, and we celebrated with a visit to the State Fair of Texas and another Pirate Party.











We left Thursday afternoon to head up north to visit my family. (For me, it was a much needed visit.) The Lord blessed us with a beautiful (a bit warm, but still beautiful) day, and we headed to the State Fair on Friday morning. Let me clarify because when I say we, I mean a whole crew. My grandparents, parents, Buddo, Nissy (Uncle Blake was working, yucky tax deadline), and our family. This isn't something we just decided to do, this has been an ongoing Lloyd tradition for years. So we did what any good fairgoers do. We rode "merry rides", ate all things fried, and watched the human cannonball and the parade. Dylan had a great time riding the rides, eating cotton candy, and seeing "Bumblebee", the Transformer. We had a great day with the family and hope to enjoy it again in the years to come.

Saturday we had everyone over to Granddad and Grammy's for a big 6th Birthday Party. Mom made the cutest cake (again). Dylan received lots of Hot Wheels stuff and a super Spider-man arm(thanks to Aunt Nissy). Thanks to everyone for making it a special day and weekend for us, but especially Dylan.




Now for the mom in me to come out -- I just want to say how wondefully blessed I feel to have been able to enjoy and watch Dylan grow these past six years. I never imagined we would have a son so handsome, full of life, kind hearted, and so very busy. We, of course, have had our trying times and I know more will come, but it is worth it. Dylan, we love you more than words can express and we know that we serve a God who loves you so much more than us. We pray that you will continue to grow up in His ways and continue to walk in the path He has planned for you. Daddy and I love you very much and look forward to year #6.

Many blessings!!




Saturday, October 6, 2007

Pirate Party















We are planning to be out of town next weekend, so we celebrated Dylan's 6th Birthday last night here with his friends. This year we celebrated with pirates. Dylan dressed up like a pirate and gave all his friends skull caps, eye patches, and tattoos to so they could be part of the pirate crew. The kids played toss the ring on the ship, a bean bag toss, pin the patch on Pirate Pete, and a treasure hunt to find the pinata shaped like a pirate ship. Garth and the guys grilled burgers and hot dogs for everyone to enjoy. We then sang "Happy Birthday" and indulged in pirate topped cupcakes and ice cream. Finally to the gifts!!! Dylan got so many neat things -- GI Joe stuff, pirate ship, transformer stuff, pirate puzzle and paints, Spiderman costumes, gift cards. He had a really great time. Here are some more pictures from the party!!



















Of course at about 6:00am today, Dylan was ready to play with the new stuff. Here are some "the morning after" pictures.

















Well with every great party there are always troubles. Yesterday Jaydon ran a fever, and Garth has been a bit under the weather. Maybe, just maybe, there will be a nap in store for everyone today!!

Have a blessed weekend!!

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Huey Circle of Friends


















We have been so blessed with our neighbors. We live on base, so we are surrounded by young military families. We moved in Jan 1, 2006. We had plenty nice neighbors, but no one that we just could hang out with. Well, about July 2006 the Albarado's moved in. They have a son named Hayden (Dylan's age), Ella is 3 now and Graham is 5 weeks younger than Jaydon. Garth and I hit it off with Ray and Tara and Dylan and Hayden are like brothers now. A few months later Angie and JD moved in. They have a 2 yr old daugher named Burke. She and Ella are (as they put it) BFF's (Best Friends Forever). Burke has taken to Dylan and calls him "Boyfriend". We thought that completed the circle, but thankfully our circle is growing because Angie is due any day with Baby Brennan. We have other families that we visit with and enjoy being around also. Recently another family (the Brotherton's) moved in and we are really enjoying getting to know them too.


We are outside together or at each other's houses all the time. When my sis came for a visit one weekend, she made mention and our bond and friendship reminded her of being in college. That is kind of what is it like except we are all now married with children. If any of the above mentioned ever get to read this, we want them to know that we will treasure this special time and their friendship always. You get so close so quickly because you share everything together. The bad times when - Ray was deployed for 6 months, I was in the hospital for a few days, Hayden broke his hand. The good times, Tara having Graham and me having Jaydon, Angie having a smooth pregnancy, the boys playing T-ball together. There are just too many to count. I think we will most remember just coming outside after work and school and just visiting and watching the kids play. What a special time!!!
Many Blessings!!

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

True Joy

Let me give you a glimpse of an afternoon at our house. Keep reading because I want to share with you the new revelation I have been given.

Dylan has now started kindergarten and is adjusting well. I stay at home and enjoy my "just me n' Jaydon" time. It is relatively quiet around the house. We go for a walk in the morning or run some errands, go to Bible Study, or just hang out and try to clean up our never ending messes. He naps for a couple of hours, and I do the "can't possibly do that while Jaydon is up" stuff.

Now at about 3:00pm everything changes. Dylan comes through the door and we are off to the races. "Mom, I'm hungry." "Mom, I'm thirsty." "Mom, I need my Heely's on." So, we get a drink and a snack and on to homework. You read correctly, kidergarten homework. Well as I sit down to help Dylan, Jaydon begins to chime in. There is nothing pleasant about his chiming in either. He has this terrible high pitched squeally thing he does and it can drive a person crazy. So, I get Jaydon a snack and now back to Dylan. Today we practice writing 3's and 4's, learn three new site words (a, that, my), and read a story. Did you know it is hard work to write the number 3? My favorite is when he gets an entire row of 3's done and he messes up on one and instead of erasing the one he messed up on he erases ALL the 3's. Can you hear me growling?! In the meantime don't forget we still have Jaydon clamoring for my attention. After much too long on 3's it is off to the 4's and those are not any easier. On to sight words, oh joy. Dylan still may not know, but I can tell you that you spell that -- T-H-A-T!!! Now it is story time. Fun right? WRONG!! "How many more pages?" "Can I go out to play?" YES, finally. Both of you outside, now!!!

I have recently discovered I can still have true joy even after an afternoon like that. I have started a Bible study and am really learning so much. This is just a nugget I would like to share. No matter the crazy circumstances you go through, you too can still have joy. Are you ready for this, our TRUE joy comes from Jesus Christ. You will not receive it from your spouse, kids, job, hobby, etc. All these people and things bring us happiness, but they will let us down at some point. Only through our salvation in Jesus can we have true Joy. This has just been a real revelation to me this week. I have placed my joy in Garth, and the boys, my health, so many things other than Him. Don't get me wrong, all three of my boys bring me great joy and happiness, but it is so wonderful to know that I can leap with joy JUST because Jesus called me to be His. He has done the same for you too.

I just thought I would share. I am so enjoying having my eyes opened more and more to God's greatness.

Many blessings!!

Monday, October 1, 2007

Just experimenting........................

Wow two posts in one day. I'm sure this will be a rare occurance. I just wanted to see if I could add pictures to our posts.

Well here is our little punkin'. Just sitting out in the yard.

Go ahead take a second look if you need to. I couldn't believe it either. Usually Dylan and best bud Hayden are Heely brothers, Skateboard brothers, or playing "fight". Not today..... today they were Reading brothers. Every boy should have the chance to read Transformers and Star Wars.


First Entry

Hopefully this will be the first of many Aldrich Adventures posts. We have been wanting to create a website of sorts for our family for a while now. I took it upon myself today to give this blogging thing a shot. We desire for this to be a place where we can share our lives and stay in touch with family and friends. We hope this serves as a place where we can share the different things we are going though, pictures, words of encouragement and much more. Well here we go, this should be an adventure in itself.

Many blessings!!