The Upton's Update

Seeing what God sees...not what we see

2011-09-29T23:33:00.001-05:00

Have you ever been in a situation where it seems hard to gain a Godly perspective on something? You know, like someone being sick and not recovering the way everyone hoped and prayed for, or even thought about? I'm not one to let that get to me too much, but being in that situation can be incredibly draining. That is where we are right now--we all know the Lord is at work, that He has the absolute, immediate ability to heal dad's body and yet, we just aren't seeing the recovery we continue to pray for. Thankfully, that doesn't mean we lose hope though. The word of God says, "'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope...'" (Jeremiah 29:11)...and we rest in that knowledge, but that doesn't mean handling all of this is easy.

As I've been thinking about this the past few days, I pulled out a CD from one of my all-time favorite musicals (I know, I'm making some confessions that some of you had no idea about...I love musicals), Man of La Mancha. I was first introduced to this musical at a high school church camp at Abilene Christian University right before my junior year in high school (22 years ago!), where we we shown the movie version (not as good as the stage version) and encouraged to begin to look at things from a different perspective, namely a Godly perspective. Now for those of you who don't know the story, the Man of La Mancha, or Don Quixote, has a unique perspective on things. Rather than seeing things as they are, he sees them, well, differently. Now some of the things he sees differently are just strange--like the windmill that he goes to battle with as a mistaken enemy, or the shaving bowl carried by the traveling barber that he sees as the "golden helmet of Mambrino"...but it is the people that he sees in a different light that makes him so special. Rather than seeing the town, um, prostitute, as everyone else sees her, he sees her as Dulcinea, the virgin maiden that he has been waiting for and that he treats with the utmost respect. As a result, most people begin to think he is crazy. Some of you are now asking, "what does this musical have to do with Maria's dad? Is he fighting windmills or picking up golden shaving buckets?" Obviously, the answer to those questions is no, he isn't.

The reality is that, at times, it seems a bit crazy to hold on to the sometimes unseen reality that God is still in control though! So what does that mean for us? It means that although medical professionals don't have all the answers, we know who does. It means that while we wait for dad's body to be healed, we rest in the knowledge that God sees dad's body already healed--whether here or in heaven, he will be healed. I'm not saying all of this to imply that dad is on death's doorstep because he isn't, but there are a lot of unknowns right now that makes this very difficult--especially for those of you who know Maria and me. We don't do so well with the unknown and yet, the Lord continues to allow us to go through "uncharted" waters. I don't mean that in a "woe is me" kind of way either...I hope it means that the Lord has found us faithful in previous uncharted territories (just to fill you in, we've experienced infertility, an ectopic pregnancy, and a 3 week NICU stay with Mclaine--all uncharted territory before those experiences!), but I also know we still have a lot to learn about maintaining faith, no matter what our circumstances.

So our prayer now is for dad's body to be healed, completely...and that we would cry out, just as the father did in Mark 9 when he came to Jesus and asked if He could free his son from the spirit that has seized him. Jesus replies, "If you can? All things are possible to him who believes." You may know the rest of the story, but for those of you who don't, the father then cries out, "I do believe; help my unbelief!"...and that is our cry, too. Lord, we do believe that dad's body can be healed...even when we don't see that happening the way we want...help my unbelief!

Thank you to all who are praying for dad's recovery, for mom, and for all of us as we walk through this--please keep it up! Heaven knows we couldn't make it without the support of so many fellow believers.

Tabletop Truth placemats

2011-01-08T22:08:00.007-06:00

For those of you who don't live in the Bryan/College Station area (and those who do, but don't know yet), our friends, Sara and Lisa, have created some amazing placemats. Their business is called Tabletop Truths and they have a wide variety of placemats that you can use to teach your children Biblical truth.

Our boys favorite one so far (we've used 3 different ones) has been the Armor of God placemats. If you want to see that one and more, just go to their blog at http://tabletoptruths.blogspot.com and you can see all of the different ones they have and can order from there. We have our boys on video telling us about the Armor of God as they learned it from the placemats, but I'll have to post that another time. Go order these placemats--they are wonderful!

The things kids say...

2010-12-29T14:24:00.002-06:00

So for all of you parents and non-parents alike , I'm just going to say it--parenting is not for the faint of heart! At the same time, just when you think you might lose what little bit of your mind is left, your kids do something to make you laugh, smile, or thank the Lord that you have them. Here are some examples from our family lately:

A few weeks ago, the five of us were at a restaurant and Maria and I were using our standard "code" to communicate about food we had brought for the boys to have after they ate their dinner. This code is well developed and hasn't been cracked for at least 2 years (the same amount of time we've been using it). Instead of the standard "spelling words out" code, we had to resort to spelling things backwards because Maxwell started figuring out what we were spelling. Now the backwards spelling has served us well, but on this particular evening, we had something for the boys and proceeded to "talk" about it. Maria said to me, "do we want to give them the 'y-n-n-u-b'?" Maxwell looked at us and spelled it back to us, "what are 'y-n-n-u-b'?" All we said was, "it is ynnub" as though that were actually a word. A few minutes past before Maxwell looked at us, with excitement in his eyes and voice, and exclaimed, "Bunny fruit snacks, that's what you have for us!" If you have any suggestions for a new code for kids who can read, and spell both forward and backward, feel free to leave a comment!

Last week, Maxwell and Miller went to spend a few days with my parents. One of the things they love about going to Nana and Grandad's is that Nana always has bubble bath for them. The last time the boys went to stay with them though, Nana sent some bubble bath home with them, but it wasn't the sensitive skin version that we have to use on Miller (otherwise, he gets horrible eczema, etc.). So this time around, Miller told Nana that he wanted to take a bubble bath at her house, but that couldn't use the pink bubble bath, "because I have skin." Every time they tell this story now, Miller knows it is funny and just starts laughing.

One other endearing thing we have heard from Miller this Christmas season - we have a "Little People Nativity Set" that the kids can play with (I mentioned it in the previous post), but instead of calling it a "Nativity" set, Miller always calls it a "Wu-tivity" set. We love it!

Hopefully, you are able to laugh and smile with your kids...even when it seems almost impossible to survive the day to day grind of raising kids!

Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

2010-12-25T23:33:00.001-06:00

Despite my inability to live in the moment most of the time, when I look back over the Christmas season this year, I am so thankful for many things. We are obviously mindful of the blessing it is to have 3 healthy children at home. After Mclaine's arrival and stay in the NICU, we were reminded that life is fleeting, though thankfully we have the gift of eternal life through Jesus, and that we should treasure this time in our lives. Although not comparable, when I read the Christmas story from the book of Luke this morning, Luke 2:19 took on special meaning for me, "But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." Some of the wonderful things I've been pondering this season include:

Family Advent and worship time - the boys really got into Advent this year and back in October we also started having family worship time each evening, so every night Miller would ask, "...are we gonna have family worship time tonight?" They also both love to sing, and it was wonderful to hear them each evening sing out on Christmas carols like, "Angels We Have Heard on High" (the boys' favorite), "Joy to the World", "Away in a Manger", and "Silent Night". I have some separate video clips of them singing and I'll try to upload those when I can (obviously after Christmas).
Christmas Eve service - we love our church and the Christmas Eve service has become a tradition in our home since we try to stay home for Christmas Day each year. The worship is amazing and the message each year is always spot on without being the same Christmas sermon you've heard before. Going back to the boys and their singing--I got a little teary-eyed last night when I looked at my two oldest boys and watched them worship the Lord at Christmas. If that doesn't make your Christmas, nothing will!
Jesus' birth - so can I confess, that I've always felt weird singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus? I mean, I know that we celebrate His birth at Christmas, but taking something so common, like the happy birthday song, has always been awkward for me. Having said that, this year was completely different because of the way Maxwell and Miller responded to the birth of Jesus. Several times a day, I would see them playing with our Little People Nativity set. Then today, we wrapped up the baby Jesus from the set and another baby Jesus that Miller made at a playgroup this month, and as we read Luke 2, we had the boys move Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, and the Wise Men (we also read the account that tells about them) into place, but asked where baby Jesus was. We then had them open their gifts to find baby Jesus waiting to be put in the manger. They were so excited to see baby Jesus...and my thoughts on having a birthday celebration for Jesus are forever changed.

Those are just a few of the highlights of our Christmas. Our prayer is that you are able to celebrate the joy of Christmas now and the gift of eternal life through Jesus forever--Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

Merry Christmas!

Matt, Maria, Maxwell, Miller & Mclaine

A brother's love

2010-11-08T21:51:00.009-06:00

I know I promised to keep everyone updated on our family through our blog after the whole ordeal with Mclaine in the NICU in Temple, but who knew transitioning to 3 kids at home and working full-time and teaching a graduate class could be so time consuming?! :-) Seriously though, I miss the outlet that writing became for me (and us) while we were in Temple so I'm going to try to do a better job of keeping this blog up to date. So much has happened since we came home so I'll just start with some of the more recent stuff and if I ever get to go back and write about the older stuff I will.

As a parent, one of the things that is so difficult for me is to keep my cool with the kids when they are acting up and the other day Maria was reminding me that we needed to step back and enjoy...not tolerate...but enjoy our kids. I mean, these are the lives we prayed and cried for as we waited on the Lord to grow our family! I honestly can't imagine our lives without them, but on a day-to-day basis, I find that I'm more annoyed by misbehavior and arguing and complaining and being disrespectful and all of the other things that bother me at that moment. In reality though, Maxwell, Miller and Mclaine are the answer to our prayers so while I am complaining about their misbehavior, etc. does the Lord ever look at me and think, "so what was that you were telling your kids about the Scripture that reminds us to do everything without arguing and complaining?!" Or what about stewardship? Am I being a good steward of the gift of children by losing my cool with them for things that may be important, but that don't warrant such a strong response from me? Can I get a witness here?!

So at this point, you are probably wondering what has caused such a change in my approach to blogging. Well, I discovered that part of our journey as the Upton family, is also about our journey as parents, as husband and wife, as friends, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and the list goes on. This is where the "update" comes in. After going through this process of realizing how much time I spent frustrated/annoyed and how little time I spent enjoying my children, Maxwell said just about the most wonderful thing you can imagine yesterday.

While driving down the road, Maxwell said, "Mommy, I'm praying for Miller and Mclaine," to which we obviously replied, "That is great Maxwell."

Maxwell: "...you know what I'm praying for them mommy?"

Maria: "What Maxwell?"

Maxwell: "I'm praying they will know Jesus and ask Him into their heart because we all need Jesus."

Now, I don't know about you, but sentimental or not, that has to bring either the biggest smile to your face or a tear to your eye (a happy tear!)...or maybe both depending on whether you are an emotional wreck at the moment. I think I mainly smiled, but I've been known to get misty every once in a while, too. Along with all of the other "things" that go on every day with our kids, I'm keeping this conversation on repeat in my mind as I attempt to do a better job of enjoying my kids.

May you enjoy whatever it is the Lord has given you--expected or unexpected--in this life.

Our God is in Control

2010-09-14T20:59:00.006-05:00

I put together the slideshow below of Mclaine's birth and subsequent stay in the NICU and then homecoming last week. The slideshow is set to a song by Steven Curtis Chapman, "Our God is in Control", that really helped Maria and I through the fear, frustration, and faith building time while Mclaine was in the NICU and we were away from Maxwell and Miller. If you have or ever do find yourself in a crisis, our prayer is the words to this song will help you through that time, but more importantly that you turn to the Lord Jesus...He is the only way we made it through.

Our New Arrival...a little delayed

2010-09-08T22:03:00.002-05:00

On Tuesday, August 17, we welcomed Mclaine Elliott Upton into the world. He weighed 9 lbs. 7 oz. and was 22 1/2 inches long. Maria had a great delivery, but Mclaine had aspirated meconium in utero and was ultimately flown to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Scott & White in Temple, Texas where he spent the last 3 weeks.

If you want to read details of our 3 weeks in the NICU, go to our CaringBridge site at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mclaineupton, enter your email address and a password of your choice. Needless to say, this has been a trial of a magnitude we have never experienced before...but as of today (September 8) we are all home together in College Station!

Losing it!

2010-08-14T19:48:00.003-05:00

After a few tears, we finally convinced Maxwell that tonight was the night his first tooth needed to come out. We've tried the "you'll get money" route, but that didn't seem to work. We tried the "your big teeth are already coming in (they are--see the picture on the right and you can see his adult tooth already growing in) and if you don't pull this tooth we are going to have to let the dentist pull it" route...that didn't work either. We tried getting him to eat raw carrots, an apple, anything to help loosen that tooth (actually both of his bottom two teeth in the middle)--all to no avail. Tonight though, it was just hanging on by a little bit and after trying 2-3 times, I finally got it to come out. It wasn't that it was hard to pull it, but when you have a 6 year old wrapping both hands around your wrists and pulling them away every time you even touch his teeth, it does increase the difficulty factor!

He quickly got over the tears though...until we both thought that I had dropped his tooth down the drain. I quickly stopped the water in the sink, thinking that I could take the pipe below apart to try to find the tooth if necessary. Thankfully though, it had landed on the bathroom counter and was safe.

I am a self-admitted sap, so I'm not going to conceal the fact that I got a little teary eyed at this milestone. It really has nothing to do with losing a tooth though and everything to do with the realization that we only have them for a brief moment in time. I made sure I loved on Maxwell a little longer tonight when I put him down--I know these moments will be gone before we know it.

Water popping and a simple prayer

2010-08-03T10:49:00.002-05:00

As we await the arrival of our newest family member, the boys continue to keep us laughing. Yesterday at lunch, out of the blue, Maxwell said, "Mommy, has your water popped?" After we regained our composure, Maria told him that when her water breaks, it will look like someone sprayed her with a water hose. Without hesitation, he got up from his seat beside her and moved to stand by me. It took a few minutes, but we finally convinced him that if her water broke it would not "spray" him...and he finally sat back down beside her.

Miller has been running a fever at night for the last few days and he has a mild rash on his skin so in talking to the pediatric nurse, she told us that if we had the baby while he still has the rash, he can have no contact with the baby. We obviously want him to be able to hold the baby when she/he comes, so we started praying that he would get better. While putting him down for bed last night, when Maria finished praying he asked her if he could pray. She of course said yes and here was his prayer:
"Dear Jesus, help Miller feel better, help Miller's fever go away, help Miller's rash go away...and help bubba not be selfish."

It was all Maria could do not to laugh out loud.

I WILL rejoice!

2010-07-28T19:49:00.004-05:00

Our friend Larry (the patriarch of the famous Brown family who the Lord sent to us as friends over 11 years ago) recently sent us an email saying that the meaning of , "This is the day that the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it" had shifted for him from being a statement, to more of a declaration with emphasis on "I WILL rejoice and be glad in it..." as a matter of choice, so to speak. Then a couple of weeks later, Maxwell went to Vacation Bible School at a local church and one song they sang really stood out for us because of what Larry shared with us. Here is a video of Maxwell (and sometimes Miller) singing a song for Mr. Larry--hope this is an encouragement to you Larry--we love you and your family!

NOTE: I realize that this post is a little different than usual as it is specifically written to a friend of ours, but is also part of me documenting our family history through the years.

I read it mommy, I read 'da book!

2010-07-13T14:27:00.004-05:00

This story is one that won't be special for everyone, but I just couldn't resist posting it. This one is for our friends, the Browns, whose youngest son is coming to A&M in the fall and will be on the tennis team.

A couple of days ago, Maria was reading books to the boys before bed and realized their fingernails needed to be clipped. While she clipped Miller's fingernails, she gave the book to Maxwell to read and when it was Maxwell's turn, Miller told her he wanted to "read 'da book, too, mommy" so she gave him the book to read.

He then opened the book and "read":
"Jesus, help Daniel play tennis. Amen."

Followed by:
"I read it mommy, I read 'da book!"

Yes, Miller, you did read it...even if it was your own story!

The flood and the rainbow

2010-07-08T12:39:00.002-05:00

Last week, we had the unfortunate experience of having the boiler valve on our 50 gallon hot water heater pop off and flood our family and laundry rooms. Keep in mind that my dear, sweet wife is 8 months pregnant (9 months this week--here we come August 10!) and it just so happened that every neighbor was gone at the time so she had to wait for me to drive from campus to our home at 80 mph. Thankfully we have a home warranty since we just moved in and what they don't cover, our homeowner's insurance covers (all of the water damage). After 5 days with fans blowing in our home, they removed the fans and dehumidifier this morning and now we can move forward with getting new carpet, the walls painted, and back into that room (where we spend most of our time together).

A great reminder occurred the same night after the water removal crew finished up and we went to eat dinner. While we were eating we looked out the window and saw the following (thanks to the Weirich family for taking this great picture)

Not one, but two rainbows to remind us that the our heavenly Father is a promise keeper and that He is with us even in the flood!

NOTE: We learned through this process that the boiler valve on most newer hot water heaters is now made out of plastic which, in the opinion of our plumber, is not a smart move. We actually have two hot water heaters, the one that blew is in the garage, but the other one is in the attic. We had the plastic valve on the attic one replaced today for $85--much better than the $1,000 deductible for our insurance! You might want to check your hot water heater out though...unless you want to swim in your house :)

Family pictures

2010-06-21T22:50:00.006-05:00

With the addition of another little Upton due in August, we had our sweet friend Erin Cole take some family pictures of the four of us in downtown Bryan. I could include the entire album (yes, they are that good), but rather than crash your computer or mine, I'll just share a few. One of our favorite family pictures is now the profile picture on blogger so I won't include that one again.

Isn't she just beautiful? Where did all the gray hair come from on me though? Oh, I think their names are Maxwell and Miller!

Uh-oh, pedi-go

2010-06-21T21:00:00.000-05:00

This one will be short, but we don't want to forget this one! Miller has been verbal for quite some time now and as his speech gets even better, we see that we are "losing" many of the really cute things he says. One that he still says though is his version of "uh-oh, spaghetti-o". Instead he says, "uh-oh, pedi-go".

A few days ago, I was in the room with him, but not actively involved in whatever he was doing and I heard him, after dropping a toy, whisper to himself, "pedi-go". That is one memory I'll be replaying quite a bit, I do believe!

Kid's Day?

2010-06-20T23:09:00.002-05:00

This morning for Father's Day my dear wife let me sleep in a little later than normal and when it was time to get up, she and the boys came in bearing gifts and cards. After I opened my two gifts and cards, Maxwell, in all seriousness, looked at me and asked, "Daddy, is there a Kid's Day?!" Nothing gets by kids, does it?! After I quit laughing, we reminded him that every day is a Kid's Day...when we go to the pool, when we go to the movies, when we go to Sea World for vacation...and especially when he has food and clean clothes to wear every day!

The truther movement

2010-06-20T22:51:00.004-05:00

In an effort to not put shame on our oldest son, let's just say we've been having quite a few conversations about telling the truth in our home lately. Today we got in the car after church and I had the radio on KSBJ (the local Christian radio station for you non-Houston area folks) and someone was preaching and said something about being a hypocrite.

For those of you who have experience with kids, you know that you never can predict when they are listening and picking up on things. I must admit, I was a little surprised that Maxwell piped up and asked me what a hypocrite was. Here is the conversation that followed:

Matt: "Well, a hypocrite is someone who says one thing and then does another."

Maxwell: "Oh, like if Jackson (a friend of his) said he was going to come to my house and then he went to Blake's (another friend) house instead."

Matt: "Well, sort of...it would be more like if someone said they loved Jesus to you and then turned around and said something bad about Jesus to someone else." (don't judge the correctness of my description here!)

Maxwell: "Oh, so that would be lying, right?"

Matt: "That's right, he would be lying about Jesus and Jesus isn't a liar just like God didn't create you to be a liar."

Maxwell: "That's right, because God is a truther! (pause) Well, God is THE truth!"

Matt: "That's right Maxwell, God is THE truth."

Anyone want to join the truther movement we are starting at our home? :)

P.S. I had a great Father's Day with my family working in the yard and helping a friend out. What a blessed man I am...and I'm so thankful for my father, father-in-law, grandfather, and brothers-in law who are leading their families, too.

The power of the father/son relationship

2010-06-15T11:40:00.004-05:00

Anyone who knows me knows that I love being a daddy. My two boys and the baby on the way bring many more smiles to my life than they do tears and fatigue, but I am also guilty of not recognizing just how powerful the father/son relationship is (and I'm sure father/daughter relationship, but I don't have one of those...yet). After you watch the video below I think you will be reminded and challenged to remember just like I was.

All Pro Dad Soldier Surprises His Son

I hope the video below not only makes you thank our heavenly Father for the men and women who protect us daily through the military (and other wonderful service careers), but also for the love He showed us in reaching down from heaven, through His Son, to give us life. Oh, the power of the Father/son relationship...I'm glad I get to experience this, too.

Excuses, excuses

2010-05-27T16:35:00.004-05:00

I know, I know...not many updates lately, but I promise I have a good excuse...or several good excuses. You see, we moved to a new house a few weeks ago, my wonderful wife who is also 7 months pregnant somehow caught a stomach virus 2 weeks later, we went to Dallas for Memorial Day weekend, had a graduation party for the youngest son of some of our dearest friends the weekend after that and have been trying to finish unpacking, too.

Enough excuses though...we are starting to settle in and we love our new neighborhood. We even have trees in our backyard (we only had a single crepe myrtle in our old backyard) and regularly see hear birds and see butterflies flying around. We have plenty of room for visitors so feel free to stop by if you live in town or just happen to be in Aggieland sometime. Hope to see you soon!

When they make us LOL

2010-04-20T20:23:00.008-05:00

Over the course of the past few days, the boys have been full of funny things to say. Now we recognize that they may not seem funny to anyone else, but since this blog is intended as an "update" and a record of memories, we want to record them before we forget them. The only downside I can see is that you don't get to hear or see the boys say these things.

MAXWELL

The other day we were driving down the road and out of the blue Maxwell said, "Daddy, I think I have a sweet tooth coming in!" After we were able to quit laughing, Maria asked him, "why do you say that?" to which he replied, "...because I like sweet things."

MILLER

Last night while getting Miller ready for bed he told me he wanted me to read him one of the Froggy books (one of the books in a series Maxwell has). When I told him we weren't going to read a Froggy book he looked at me with lips pouting and said, "I'mo tell mommy!" (no that isn't a typo--he adds the "o" to the end of I'm instead of saying "going to"). We then went into his room where Maria and Maxwell were waiting for our go to bed routine and he looked at Maria with his best pout (see the previous post from Maxwell's first t-ball game and you can see the look) and said, "Mommy, daddy tell Miller he no wead booky Fwog" (instead of Froggy book).

Tonight at Chick-fil-A was kids eat free and "Build-your-own-Sundae" night and they gave kids free ice cream to make a sundae with. When Miller had just about finished his sundae he looked at me and told me he wanted to play in the play area. When I told him no, he said, "play just a fewww minutes daddy." When I insisted that we were not going to play he stuck his lips out further than we have ever seen and gave me his best pouty look. We were in tears we were laughing so hard and then he just kept looking at us and saying, "why-you laughing?" with his hands out and his shoulders raised in confusion.

Maxwell's sporting debut

2010-04-12T21:26:00.008-05:00

Tonight was Maxwell's first t-ball game and he did a FANTASTIC job! He hit the ball twice and both times he scored. He also had a couple of stops when they were fielding the ball. We couldn't be more proud of how well he played!

...and what post wouldn't be complete without a pouting picture of Miller. This was after we told him for the hundredth time that he wasn't big enough to play t-ball yet. He's ready!

No need for cute here

2010-04-11T21:10:00.001-05:00

As I was typing up the previous post with our bluebonnet pictures Maria said, "I wish I knew how we could make our blog cute like all of our friends," to which I replied, "I see that 'cutestblogontheblock.com' link on a lot of the blogs you read." Wanna guess her response?

"I guess our blog doesn't need to be cute though since you are the one who writes all of the posts."

So my question is, are there any background templates that are "manly" and yet, not camouflage. In case you haven't figured it out, I'm not exactly the camo kind of guy.

NOTE: After posting this blog I decided to wander over to the website mentioned above where I found what I believe to be a background that is manly enough for the Upton's Update blog. I hope you agree, but if you don't, please keep it to yourself :)

That time of year again

2010-04-10T21:30:00.011-05:00

We are in the height of bluebonnet season in this part of Texas so we would feel like we were shirking our responsibility as Texans if we didn't post some bluebonnet pictures on the blog (I was born and raised here so I'm folding my entire family into that identity--Maria still doesn't fully claim her "Texanhood"). Last year, my parents were here to help us capture our annual bluebonnet pictures with the boys, but this year they are in California helping my grandparents out so this is also our attempt at helping them stay up on how the boys are doing (or rather, making them miss the boys and Texas even more than I'm sure they already do!).

I'm going to let the pictures say the rest--these were all taken out by the Bush Presidential Library complex at A&M (which is also where my office is so I get to drive by these beautiful fields each day).

...and what photo shoot isn't complete without a meltdown? Miller threw himself facedown in the bluebonnets and when we went to help him up, Maria said, "Wait! Let me take a picture!"

...you gotta love that face!

2010-04-07T21:36:00.005-05:00

Maxwell wanted to share what he has been learning about the Bible this year in school with his Great Granddad and Great Grandma Upton (who live in California) so we made the two videos below. We love you Great Granddad and Great Grandma!!!

Love,

Matt, Maria, Maxwell, Miller & Baby

new house rule...

2010-03-26T14:28:00.001-05:00

The title of this blog was the subject line of an email I received from Maria yesterday morning at work. The content of the email is below,

"he who complains about going to the grocery store, skips dinner that night!"

Maxwell started whining when she told him they had to go to the grocery store to get some things for dinner. After Maria told him the new house rule, she said she didn't hear a single complaint from him on the way to the store, while they were there, or on the way home. As our friend Larry said, "he didn't know it, but he was going to fast if he complained..." to which I replied, "yes, and whether or not he chose to pray while fasting was up to him!"

Unwanted Audience

2010-03-24T22:59:00.001-05:00

I've gone back and forth in my mind about whether to post this, but since it is a record of our lives with kids, I thought it blog-worthy. If you disagree, I apologize in advance.

Recently, I have been experiencing what I have come to believe is a stay-at-home mom's #1 complaint--lack of privacy--and I'm not the stay-at-home mom here! I won't bore you with details, but let's just say that Miller is entering the stage in his life where he is interested in how our bodies work. As a result, I seem to have an audience each time I have to go to the bathroom. Unfortunately, the audience has even been known to grow as the family apparently chooses to congregate wherever the head of this home is. If only I got that kind of attention when I ask Maxwell and Miller to be kind to each other and share! Needless to say, I have found myself with more than one unwanted audience in the past few days.

Maxwell's first t-ball practice...and a special lady's birthday

2010-03-22T22:59:00.001-05:00

Today was Maxwell's first t-ball practice and he did a fantastic job! In case you haven't figured it out by now, I'm not really the athletic type (shocker, I know) so we really weren't sure how Maxwell would do, but he quickly picked it up and so far has done a great job. Thankfully, Maria's family was athletic so she has helped fill in the large gaps in my parenting ability :) Just look at the ready stance!

Despite my lack of athletic prowess, I am determined to help the boys (and the August baby--boy or girl) do whatever the Lord has gifted them to do. I've already borrowed a "t" from a work colleague and will pick up a borrowed baseball glove tomorrow so we are ready for our home practices between our team practices. Opening ceremonies are Saturday, April 10 at Olsen Field (where the Aggies play and where we took the boys yesterday for an Aggie Baseball game). I'm sure we'll have more posts about this as the season progresses, but you can also see how Miller got in on the action today (yes, we know his helmet is on backwards, but he kept putting it on this way).

On a very different note, today is a very special day because the love of my life, the mother of my children, and my best friend celebrated a birthday today. She was a real trooper starting the day with a Bible study at 6:30 AM, followed by breakfast at home, Kindermusik this afternoon for Maxwell and t-ball practice tonight. We were able to squeeze in some chocolate sheet cake and Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream so all is good. I love you, Maria.

Daddy's yammune system

2010-03-17T21:02:00.000-05:00

As with all 5-year old kids, Maxwell is full of questions. Lately, the main questions are "Daddy (or Mommy) is that good for you?" or "Does this song praise Jesus?" He has become quite health conscious and last night when we were with some friends at, big surprise, Chick-fil-A, they gave the kids vanilla milkshakes with green food coloring in them for St. Patrick's Day. When he heard that the milkshake had food coloring in it, he promptly refused to drink it saying that food coloring isn't good for you (after we told him that a little bit of food coloring wouldn't hurt him, he decided the shake was good enough to drink!). He has even threatened to throw away all Cokes we have in the house because they aren't good for you (he is a water and milk drinker almost exclusively). Talk about being challenged to make changes (yes, I know I'm going to have to give up Diet Coke...and soon!).

Here is the funny part to me...any time he drops something edible on the floor, he now brings it to me and says, "Daddy, you have a good yammune system so you can eat this." I am then given some tasty treat that he dropped on our floor--yum! I must admit that I never thought I would eat food off the floor, or half-chewed up food from my kids, but I do. I either have the best "yammune" system or I'm going to have the worst because of all the dirt I'm ingesting!

His brother's keeper

2010-03-15T22:24:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to a fundraiser dinner and the boys favorite babysitter, Rachel ("Rae Rae" to the boys) came over to stay with them. Now Miller has been known to suffer from a bit of separation anxiety (we mention the word church and he starts saying, "no church...mommy stay" because he doesn't want to go to the nursery), but Rae Rae can usually overcome that pretty quickly.

Apparently this night was a little different though. After a while of fussing, Rae Rae was getting Miller ready for bed and Maxwell asked him, "Miller, do you want bubba to put you down?" to which Miller quickly replied, "uh-huh". So Maxwell went into Miller's room, sat in the rocking chair, held him on his shoulder, prayed with him and sang a song or two--no doubt, one of the same songs we sing at night when we go through this routine. Rae Rae then only had to help Maxwell put Miller in the crib because it was too tall for him to reach on his own. Talk about brotherly love!

Hotels and Ouch!

2010-03-14T22:41:00.000-05:00

In December 2007 we took a trip with Nanny and Papa (Maria's parents) to Atlanta to have Christmas with Uncle Skip, Lauren and McKinley. We made the trip there in two days and stayed overnight in Jackson, Mississippi. That was the first time Maxwell really remembers staying in a hotel--possibly because he threw up in the middle of the night, and possibly because it was the first time he remembers it. Since that time he loves the idea of staying in a hotel and gets excited every time he gets the chance to stay in one.

Many of you know that we are in the middle of a house hunt so finding a place to live is on all of our minds regularly. As they were driving by a hotel here in town the other day, Maxwell told Maria, "Mommy, I think we should move to California and Great Grandma and Great Grandad (my 95 and 94-year old grandparents who live in California) should move here. Then when we come to see them, we can stay in that hotel." Now that sounds like a problem solved...or maybe not!
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On a separate note, Maxwell was helping me in the yard yesterday and I let him use my handheld rose bush shears to cut down some weeds in our neighbor's yard. At one point, I noticed that he had dropped them on his toe and he was hopping around saying how heavy they were and how they hurt his toe. I thought he was being dramatic...until he took off his shoe and his sock was soaked with blood right over his big toe. Apparently when he dropped them they were open and they went straight into his big toe, right on the knuckle. He has been a trooper about it (after a bit of a meltdown last night) and when I put the butterfly bandage on it tonight he said that made it feel much better.

In case you didn't know, anytime you get a decent cut on a knuckle you should go have stitches and that if you don't do so within 8 hours of the injury, they won't give stitches because the chance of infection goes up dramatically (information courtesy of Dr. Paul and Nurse Marianne Goen :)

Chip-e-chay!

2010-03-09T09:40:00.000-06:00

I just love the excitement that kids approach most things with. We had an early morning doctor appointment today (at 8 AM and we made it there early with both kids!) and after that went to Chick-fil-A for breakfast before I had to go to work. As soon as we drove into the parking lot Miller exclaimed, with a huge smile on his face,

"Chip-e-chay!"

It is no secret to people that we frequent Chick-fil-A and, as a matter of fact, we will be going again tonight because we are having our house inspection late this afternoon and need to be out of the house during dinner time (the trip this morning wasn't planned--it was just the easiest place to go after the doctor appointment). If you are in town and want to join us, we'll be there right at about 5 PM. May you find the joy and excitement in even the small things today.

Oh

2010-03-05T10:49:00.000-06:00

Two days ago we celebrated Miller's 2nd birthday with just the four of us and then last night we had Nana and Grandad and our friends the Gills (their little boy Andrew is Miller's friend and their daughter Hannah is Maxwell's friend) over for birthday cake. I'm not going to do the obligatory "Miller you are so special" birthday blog though...instead, I'm going to share two funny stories about him. Now granted, one of them loses some of the translation in text, but I want to preserve it here for our memories as well.

On Wednesday morning, I had a meeting at 7 AM so I wasn't there to get Miller out of bed as usual. When Maria went in to get him, she told him that they had to get dressed to meet daddy for breakfast. She then said, "we are going to have a special breakfast--we'll go have a cinammon roll!" He looked at her, started crying and said, "no cinammon roll...birthday cake!" I can't say I blame him--he was ready for the cake! That evening when we got home from our trip to Temple (for our big ultrasound--everything looked great, didn't find out whether the baby is a boy or a girl so you have to wait until August to find out!), he asked for cake again and to appease him I had to give him birthday ice cream with 2 candles in it.

The other funny story involves something that Miller has started doing lately. Again, some of the humor may be lost in translation here, but if you could just hear him saying this, you would crack up, too. On our way home from Temple, we let the boys watch Finding Nemo it got to the part where the whale swallows Dori and Marlin. Here is the conversation between Miller and Maxwell:
Miller: "Dolphin! Dolphin!"
Maxwell: "No Miller, that isn't a dolphin, it's a whale."
Miller: "Oh."
On a fairly regular basis Miller will be saying something and we'll tell him something different and his response is simply, "Oh." No exclamation, no excitement, just a simply, "Oh."

By the way, we did have give Miller birthday cake at his "official" party on Thursday--complete with dolphins on it.

Renaming the iPod

2010-03-02T13:52:00.000-06:00

In my last post, I relayed the conversation Maria had with Maxwell about his iPod shuffle and when it was okay for him to listen to it. A few days later Maxwell had a sudden realization and ran to Maria to tell her. He said, "Mommy, I do have a wePod...look, I can take one of the ear things and give it to Miller so he can listen to it at the same time!" If only I could come up with such good compromises.

Vultures and an iPod

2010-02-17T15:18:00.000-06:00

During our morning activities today, Maria had two funny conversations with Maxwell:

While getting dressed this morning, Maxwell came in and asked if he could listen to his iPod (it is a shuffle and it was a gift so no judging why my 5 year old has an iPod!). Here is the conversation that followed:
Maria: "Maxwell, what is it called? Is it a wePod or an usPod?"
Maxwell: "No mommy."
Maria: "Then what is it called?"
Maxwell: "An iPod."
Maria: "So do we listen to our iPod when we are doing things together as a family?"
Maxwell: "No ma'am."
Maria: "That's right...that is why it is an iPod, not a wePod or an usPod...and we only listen to our iPod when we are having time alone."
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Background for the story: I've worked in an ICU before and have seen many things people consider gross in my life, but for whatever reason, there are two things that I don't do well with - roadkill and vultures. Read on and the story will take on a new meaning.

After I left for work, Maria was taking the boys to run some errands and they passed a deer stand that a neighbor has sitting in his driveway. Maxwell asked Maria why it had windows and a door (my dad hunts, too so he is familiar with deer stands, he just hasn't seen one with a door and windows) and Maria was explaining to him that it is used when you go hunting.
Maxwell: "Yeah, mommy and you can shoot deer and pigs when you go hunting."
Maria: "Yes, that's right."
Maxwell: "...and cows."
Maria: "Well, we don't hunt or shoot cows, because we can get meat from the grocery store."
Maxwell: "Well, you can shoot vultures, too."
Maria: "Yes, but no one would want to eat vultures."
Maxwell: "...but I can shoot all of the vultures and I am going to do that for daddy for Valentine's Day because he doesn't like them."

Isn't that so sweet? He is going to kill all of the vultures for me as a (late) Valentine's Day present (do you have a mental picture of just how sweet that is?!). That's my boy!

So funny it made me cry...or maybe I'm just really tired

2010-02-16T10:00:00.000-06:00

I have heard this comedian's "Chick-fil-A Song" which is hilarious, but then I found this link and it mae me laugh so hard I cried. Enjoy!

Tim Hawkins' Scary Bedtime Prayers

Thank you so much daddy

2010-02-15T22:45:00.000-06:00

Miller was being particularly sweet and funny today. At dinner time, we were all done except for him and he started making these hilarious faces as he ate. Of course, we all laughed and, being a typical child/person, he started really hamming it up. At the end, he and Maxwell got a special treat and we gave them both some Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream (you have to include the full name to get the full effect of how good it was, right?!). I gave both of the boys their bowl of ice cream and Miller said, "thank you so much daddy". When I put him in bed tonight after rocking him and singing some songs, he said it again, "thank you so much daddy". You have to love that!

Competition and contentment

2010-02-09T08:00:00.004-06:00

This weekend we had some friends over for the Super Bowl and at the end of the night, I was in helping Maxwell and the other kids clean-up his room and I heard one of the other kids say to Maxwell, "your room is really little" to which Maxwell replied, "no it isn't!" I quickly diffused the competition by reminding the other child that his room used to be small before his family moved into their current home. While going to bed last night, I told Maria this story and said that I didn't think there was anything to it, but that I was surprised by the conversation. Since she spends all day with the boys and other kids she pointed out that at this age, this form of competition is their way to one-up each other. As you might imagine, she also said that it is hard to stay on top of this with kids, but that she and our other friends do try to watch for that.

This afternoon, Maria and the boys went over to our friends, the Coles, house to play. Maria said that she heard Maxwell and Paxson talking to each other throughout the day along the lines of "my toy/item/project is better than yours". At one point she jumped into the conversation and told them that she didn't want to hear them trying to one-up each other, but rather wanted them to encourage each other. Fast forward to them while they were building houses with legos. Maxwell looked over at Paxson and said, "Paxson, your house is awesome" to which Paxson said "thank you". Maria then asked Paxson what he should say to Maxwell. Paxson replied with, "Maxwell, your house is super great!" I can just hear the two of them trying to encourage each other and I had to chuckle.

All of this made me think though. What makes us want to one-up each other? Why does it matter if my house/car/toy is bigger or better? In what ways do I try to one-up my friends and in what ways do I lack contentment because I think someone else has something better than me? We tell our boys, and especially Maxwell since he is older, that people are more important than things, but does my life demonstrate that to our kids and those around me? The truth of God's Word really hits home at a time like this (on top of the conversations replayed above, we are trying to sell our current home to buy something bigger and with a room we can dedicate to homeschooling) - Matthew 6:25, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" I pray our lives show contentment more than competition, but sometimes I'm just not sure.

Jesus...help me obey

2010-02-08T22:14:00.000-06:00

This morning Maxwell was doing some of his school work and Miller was having a hard time being patient. Miller desperately wanted to color and Maria kept telling him (4-5 times over a 10-15 minute period) that as soon as Maxwell was done with his school work, they could all color a picture. Before Maria realized what he was doing, Miller sat down in one of the chairs at the kitchen table, put his head down on his arm and said, "Jesus...help me obey". Maria didn't understand him at first so she asked him what he said and, again, he put his head down and said, "Jesus...help me obey". I continue to be amazed at how much he absorbs and picks up on, just by watching...Jesus, help me obey so my kids have an example of obedience!

CORRECTION: Catching Up

2010-02-03T01:00:00.005-06:00

So 2 days ago I posted a brief synopsis of our summer and all that had gone on since my last post at the end of May. The next night while we were laying in bed, Maria did her best to gently correct my recollection of the summer. I could tell she didn't want to discourage me from writing so she started out with a compliment that went something like this, "I'm glad you are blogging again and I enjoyed reading your post today...(short pause), but you didn't quite get the timeline correct."

I countered with a recollection of the timeline as I recalled it and, in the end, had to concede that she was correct (I have to do that a lot!). Maxwell didn't get really sick until July 4 (when we had to take him to the ER after an on again, off again ear infection that got pretty bad). The next week was when we decided he needed surgery and we were in recovery mode until the middle to end of July. So, you may ask, what did we do at the beginning of the summer?

Apparently we had a blast and I tend to focus on the negative aspects of our summer in my memory. Seriously though, Maxwell took 2 weeks of swimming lessons through the city and then another 2 weeks from our friend, Susan Myers, who teaches survival swimming. Miller also took lessons from Susan and both boys made great progress...until the sicknesses took over and apparently consumed our lives and my memory. Thankfully, we all survived and recovered and the record has been set straight. I still haven't figured out how I completely forgot all the good stuff that we experienced--I'm usually the one who is optimistic and positive. Why didn't my memory follow this time? --Matt

Mood swings and stairs

2010-02-02T07:56:00.001-06:00

What is it about little boys (maybe it is children in general, but my experience is only with boys) and their mood swings? They go from happy, happy, joy, joy, to meltdown mayhem in a matter of minutes.

Maxwell had Kindermusik today and I watched one of the other little boys in his class have a minor meltdown (all the while thanking the Lord that it wasn't Maxwell this time--trust me, he has had his fair share). Then I met Maria to look at a house (another post for another day) and Miller was thrilled to see me...at first. After a tour of the house, Maria started talking to our real estate agent, the one and only Pat Poston, he started crying and reaching for Maria as though I had just pinched him or something. I gave him to Maria and he kept fussing so I took him back and walked away so they could continue talking. He then started the all out crying fit while going limp in my arms. I just don't get the mood swings, but I must admit that there are times I want to throw myself on the ground and throw a good fit when things aren't going my way.

Speaking of houses, Maxwell loves it when we look at a two story home. Today when they drove up (I met them there from work) Maria told me that he said, "I knew it! I knew it! I knew this house was going to have stairs and look--it does!" I just love how excited they get over small things--I would probably just throw a fit about having to go up the stairs. --Matt

Catching up

2010-02-01T08:00:00.033-06:00

So this is my attempt at catching up on our lives in our blog--I know I won't remember everything, but I do want to record some things.

The Summer
Whew! The summer had some high points, but part of the reason I quit blogging is because it just got a bit crazy around here. Maxwell had an ear infection in early June and one thing lead to another before we decided to have his tonsils and adenoids taken out. So the latter half of June was filled with Maxwell recovering from surgery. Thankfully the surgery was a success and not only did it help Maxwell feel better, but we saw an improvement in his sleep patterns, too.

After rescheduling vacation from the beginning of July (due to Maxwell just recovering), we finally made it to Sea World at the beginning of August. What an amazing time we had there! We don't have digital pictures of our trip yet (no, we haven't developed the waterproof film camera we bought!), but we had a great time. The highlight of the trip was feeding the dolphins (at least that was what I think was the highlight).

We came back from vacation to find out I had jury duty 2 weeks before the fall semester began and, you guessed it, I was selected for the jury (felony murder, no less). Jury duty lasted for 6 days and I went back to work the Monday before the fall semester began--right into the middle of our new student orientation (that I plan and oversee).

At the beginning of August, we also found out that we were expecting baby #3. The next few weeks revealed that something wasn't quite right though and on Thursday (3 days after I got off of jury duty) our wonderful OB/GYN Dr. Davis discovered that the pregnancy was ectopic. His original suspicion was confirmed on Friday morning and Maria was rushed into emergency surgery. Thankfully, Dr. Davis discovered that the pregnancy was ectopic when he did because we were actually about 8 weeks pregnant (we originally thought we were only 4 weeks) and Maria's tube was hemorrhaging and just about to rupture.

As I try to recall the events of the fall, the only one that comes to mind right now is that the Lord has been gracious to heal Maria's body and, as you might have gathered from my previous post, we are expecting again--this time due in early August. I think that should catch us up for now--if I remember anything else I will add it in when I can. --Matt

Good Ideas

2010-01-31T15:16:00.000-06:00

I don't know about you, but when I have what I think is a "good idea" one of two things happens:

1. I second guess myself and never take action on my "good idea" because I think someone else has already had that idea; or

2. I get ready to take action on my "good idea" and discover that someone else has already had the same idea and actually done something with it.

The second option is how it is with my latest idea--writing letters to our two boys, our baby on the way, and my beautiful wife. Apparently there is a book out there called Letters from my Dad or something along those lines and there is a "movement" of men who are writing letters to their families. For me, the idea originated when we celebrated the life of a dear friend who went to be with Jesus a week and a half ago after a 7 year fight with brain cancer. I want my children to know who I am, but more importantly I want them to know about the great God I serve and strive to teach them to serve. I also want to do a better job of updating this blog (I know I've been terrible at that!) so I have our stories recorded for our family.

So for the 2 of you who read this, here is my request. Please pray for me that I am able to keep this blog updated and that I am able to make time to write to my children and wife. Oh, and you can also pray that I am able to lead my family, too! I may attempt a "catch up" post soon, but for now, we'll start with the here and now. More to come soon! --Matt

Pickin' blackberries

2009-05-27T14:12:00.002-05:00

I was going to write about our trip to east Texas to pick blackberries with our friends the Mortons, but Shannon (the wife of the Morton family) wrote such a great post that I figured I would just link to her blog. Click here to read about our fun trip this past weekend.

I am a Kingdom Kid!

2009-05-25T21:39:00.034-05:00

It is hard to believe that 3 years ago, Maxwell went to his first day of Kingdom Kids (the preschool at our church) and on Thursday, May 14, Maxwell "graduated" from preschool. What sweet and wonderful memories we have of his time at Kingdom Kids in Mrs. April's "Frog" class, Mrs. Lisa's "Apple" class and Mrs. Pam & Mrs. Amanda's "Sunbeams" class.

Mrs. Pam, Mrs. Amanda, Mrs. Kelly

Ms. Marianne (music teacher)

Mrs. Beth (movement teacher)

Here is a "through the years" review of Maxwell on his first day of school each year. My how time flies!

September 2006

September 2007

September 2008

Since the day we heard about you...

2009-05-25T21:14:00.007-05:00

On Mother's Day 2009, we had the privilege of dedicating Miller to the Lord at our church. Both sets of grandparents were able to make it to the dedication so that made the weekend even more special.
For those of you who may ask, "what does it mean to dedicate a child?", it simply means that Maria and I committed to raising up Miller for God's glory and to be used by the Lord however He wants to and our church body committed to supporting us in that endeavor. We did the same for Maxwell when he was 7 months old so we've been anxiously awaiting to have this opportunity with Miller.
The verse we chose for Miller is Colossians 1:9-12. "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledege of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light."

We love you Miller!

Tell me about your day

2009-05-14T22:23:00.003-05:00

Every Tuesday and Thursday when I pick Maxwell up from Kingdom Kids, I ask him about his day. Like a good parent, I avoid questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no, focusing instead on questions like, "what was your favorite part of your day at school?" As you might expect with a 5-year old boy, this process usually requires more than one question though.

This week I started with the standard (see above) and when his answer was too short for my liking, I followed that up with, "so...are you the line leader or caboose or anything else this week?" (There are certain "jobs" that the kids are assigned each week and they rotate through them).

He looked at me and with all seriousness said, "No dad, I'm on vacation."

Happy Birthday Maxwell!

2009-05-04T21:30:00.005-05:00

On Monday, May 4, we celebrated Maxwell's 5th birthday. Well actually, the festivities started on Saturday, May 2 at his birthday party at the pool, but I didn't take any pictures there so I have no proof for the blog. Oh, I would have taken pictures, but Maria got sick in the middle of the "swine flu" panic so we had to basically quarantine her to the back bedroom and I got to do all of the birthday party "stuff" that we would have normally done together. So the truth is that I just didn't remember to take pictures at the swimming party (we all had a blast though!). (By the way, Maria didn't have swine flu...or any kind of flu for that matter. Just a virus that caused a fever for 2 1/2 days).

So on his actual birthday, May 4, we started the day by having waffles (his request) on our family birthday plate that Nana gave us last year (and that we just forgot for the other birthdays in our family).

Then we had our last day of Hot Shots soccer followed by lunch with our dear friends, the Shannons. Maxwell wanted to have lunch with his best buddy Jackson, so it gave us a reason to have lunch with the rest of the Shannon family, too. That night we then had the privilege of having dinner with the Mortons (which includes Maxwell's best girl buddy, Elizabeth). Thanks to his Nana, Maxwell even had a birthday crown/hat to wear to dinner. As you can see, Maxwell and Elizabeth had fun being goofy.

Maxwell, thank you for bringing so many sights and sounds into our home. We can't imagine life without you and we are so thankful that the Lord gave you to us. Our prayer is that over the next year you grow in your knowledge and love of the Lord. We love you!

Happy 70th Anniversary Grandad and Grandma!

2009-04-29T16:30:00.001-05:00

I know this blog primarily covers the Upton family of four from College Station, Texas, but today we want to honor my (Matt's) grandparents who live in Orangevale, California. On April 29, 1939, M.G. and Viva Upton were married and today they celebrate their 70th Anniversary! What an amazing heritage they have established for our family--it is hard to imagine 70 years of marriage in the world we live in today.

Grandad and Grandma--thank you for the godly heritage you have established in the Upton family. Thank you for holding on to each other through all of these years and thank you for being an example of a godly (though likely imperfect!) marriage. We love you and are thankful for the privilege of honoring you today. Here is a special wish for you from the boys.

We love you!!!
Matt, Maria, Maxwell and Miller

Our first attempt at Bluebonnet pictures

2009-04-18T10:56:00.001-05:00

The day before Easter we took the boys out and attempted to take Bluebonnet pictures for the very first time. Out of 122 pictures we took, we only got a few decent ones. Here are our favorite pictures. We really didn't get any of the two of them together that we loved, but we will try again next year!

This one cracks us up everytime we see it. Can you tell Miller is our "fit thrower"?

Jesus threw 'em in the trash!

2009-04-12T23:29:00.005-05:00

Happy Easter (or more likely, Happy day after Easter)! We had a good day today celebrating the risen King. After a rough start to the morning, we enjoyed time at church and then lunch with our neighbors, the Wards, and one of the students from my work (at the Bush School at A&M), Ashley. Throughout the day, we obviously talked quite a bit about the fact that today is all about Jesus conquering sin and death for everyone, everywhere. Maxwell continued to say to us, "Mommy and Daddy, He is risen!" to which we replied, "He is risen, indeed!"

At the end of the day when I was putting him in bed, we were talking about the day one more time and about how Jesus defeated sin and death. After telling Maxwell that Jesus had taken our sins away, he asked how far away they were. I told him about the verse that says our sins have been removed as far as the east is from the west--and told him that was as far away as he could ever imagine. He then looked at me and, with a huge grin on his face, said, "yea Daddy, Jesus threw our sins in the trash!" I just smiled and agreed--good to know our sins are in the trash because of Jesus! Have a great week.

Happy Birthday Maria/Mommy!

2009-03-22T22:20:00.005-05:00

Today is a most special day because today is the day that the Lord brought my beautiful bride, the love of my life, my best friend, the mother of my children, my precious Maria into this world. Words alone cannot express how thankful I am to the Lord for creating her and, especially so, for giving her to me as my wife. When I think about my life without her, it is all blurry and bland, but life with her is vibrant, full of life, and full of happiness.

Oh sure, we've had some hard times, but overall, life is so good with Maria in my life. I still remember the first time I saw Maria up on stage at Breakaway leading worship and how I thought, "I should ask her out...but she would think I am a freak since she doesn't even know who I am." Only God knew then how the future would play out...and I'm glad he let it happen the way it did.

I love you sweetie. Happy Birthday!

Always,
Beloved

Miller's 1st Birthday Party

2009-03-17T21:30:00.005-05:00

On Saturday, February 28 we celebrated Miller's 1st birthday (his actual birthday is March 3).

Guests included:
Mommy, Daddy & Maxwell
Nanny & Papa
Nana & Grandad
Aunt Jana & cousin Zachary
Mrs. Lizi & Rae Rae
Mr. Morton, Elizabeth & Abigail

Here are some pictures of the big party:
The candle is lit and we are singing "Happy Birthday" to Miller here. Apparently, he didn't like the sound of our singing though--notice that he is covering his ears.

Below is Miller's first taste of icing...and he wasn't the biggest fan. Neither of our boys have liked their first birthday cake. Fast forward to this week when Maria tried to give him another bite of a vanilla cupcake with vanilla icing--he still didn't like it. She then thought, "I know Maxwell doesn't like chocolate, but maybe Miller will", so she gave him some chocolate icing and...you guessed it, he loved it. Mind you, he still didn't like the cake, just the icing.

Here he is playing with the cake...not eating it though (Maxwell cried at his first birthday when he felt the icing because it made him dirty...not so with Miller).

Finally, here he is with his friend Abigail. At least he isn't pulling her hair here.

First (assisted) steps

2009-03-17T21:30:00.003-05:00

This video was taken on Saturday, February 28--toward the end of the day and after Miller's 1st birthday party. Maria had been trying to get him to walk using the walker toy for a few weeks, but he just wouldn't do it. Then after Papa pulled the walker toy out and worked with him some, followed by some more workout time with Nana and Grandad he decided he would show us his walking ability!

Happy Birthday Miller!

2009-03-17T15:51:00.004-05:00

I know it is what everyone says, but it is true that it is unbelievable how quickly time flies with with your children! A little over a year ago, Miller Isaac Upton joined our family and we are so much richer by having him in our family. Here is just a little about Miller:

When any of us (Mommy, Daddy, or Maxwell) walk into the room, Miller lights up with the biggest smile. One of the best parts of my (Matt) day is when I go to get him out of bed in the morning. First, we go see what Maxwell is doing and then we go into our bedroom to see Mommy. Miller loves his mommy and he makes it known every morning by the smile and giggle he gives her when he sees her for the first time.

Miller adores his big brother, or bubba as we call him, and is really starting to watch what Maxwell does and tries to imitate it (sometimes that is a good thing...other times, well...).

Miller is a snuggler and if he is tired or just needs some loving, he will lay his head on your shoulder and just snuggle in. As a parent, you have got to love that.

Miller loves to laugh and is so much fun to see when he gets tickled. What a beautiful sound it is to hear his laughter in our home.

Miller seems to like music just about as much as his brother--he heads straight for the computer when I am playing music on it. After seeing he and Maxwell playing their instruments together this morning we may have a band in the making, the UB Band (Upton Brothers Band)...we'll keep you posted.

I know there is more, but since I haven't blogged in so long, I'll stop here for now. Our prayer for Miller is that the Lord uses him in mighty ways to reach the lost with his tender love for people. We love you Miller and are so glad you are part of our lives!

Love,
Mommy, Daddy, and Maxwell

NOTE: I realize this post is 2 weeks late, but better late than never. Sorry Miller--I didn't forget your birthday. Love, Daddy

Whoa...

2009-02-01T14:38:00.002-06:00

We were sitting in the living room this afternoon with Miller fussing and talking in his room instead of taking a nap. Maxwell was being especially rambunctious and running around the living room with a extra long skinny white balloon (think balloons that are used to make animals) that he got from HEB after church today. He ran into the kitchen using his balloon as a sword when we heard a loud crash. Apparently he had run into the trash can and knocked it over. The only thing we heard from him, in his best California surfer dude accent, was "Whoa..."

When I grow up...

2009-01-29T21:16:00.004-06:00

Today was "Occupation Day" at Kingdom Kids and everyone was supposed to dress up as what they want to be when they grow up. This was part of the Occupation unit that they have been studying for the past few weeks. Several of the parents had come to the class to share about what their occupation was. They had a doctor, a veterinarian, a cowboy/rancher, a police officer, a helicopter pilot, and "someone who blows up things underground to find oil and gas." All in all Maxwell really enjoyed this unit, especially learning about the helicopter pilot who told them he flew over the sea and the "walls of Nineveh" (Maxwell's favorite story is Jonah).

When we asked Maxwell what he wanted to be he did not hesitate to tell us that he wanted to be a scuba diver like the one in Finding Nemo. Rather than pick something easy to dress up as, he HAD to pick something we had to be creative in dressing him as. Where do you get a wet suit for a 4 year old that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? Thanks to the help of Jenny Petter who found online instructions for making a costume and loaned us some black T-ball pants and Carla Hilland for loaning us some flippers, Maxwell's wish came true. Maxwell the scuba diver was a hit! As soon as he got home from school he had to put his costume back on and we "played" Nemo until Nemo (Maria) got tired of being caught.

Don't honk shoe daddy and other random thoughts

2009-01-21T22:37:00.003-06:00

So Maria keeps reminding me that part of the purpose of a blog is to record different moments in our life. She also keeps reminding me that every post doesn't have to have accompanying pictures...so in honor of our friend Brian Miller and his "random thoughts" posts, here goes:

When I put Maxwell down at night I pray, he prays for someone, and we sing a couple of songs before saying our final good night and turning out the lights. After I turn out the lights he asks for a hug and says, "You're gonna stay in here forever!" to which I often reply, "Oh, I am?!" He then either asks me to make an animal sound (I have no idea why) or to pretend that I fall asleep on him (I did that one time and it became a tradition). A few weeks ago I pretended to fall asleep and also started to pretend to snore. A few nights later he asked me to pretend to fall asleep again, but this time he said, "Daddy, don't honk shoe when you fall asleep on me...okay?!"

I had Monday off of work for the MLK Holiday and finally got on the roof to take the Christmas lights down. Maxwell was in the yard playing and when he saw me on the roof he came over and asked, "Watcha doin' up there little fella?" Needless to say, it is a good thing I was sitting down by that point because if I hadn't been I might have fallen off the roof laughing.

We came home from Kindermusik on Monday night and Maxwell promptly sat down at his desk and said, "I'm thinking...I'm sitting at my desk and thinking". While I captured the moment on megapixel, (is that what you say when you take a digital picture? I didn't capture the moment on film so I'm guessing that is right), I'm determined not to include a picture on this post.

One final story--this one about Miller. After I got off work today we decided that I should meet Maria and the boys at Wal-Mart for some errands. I knew they would be in the kid's clothing area so I just walked back there and hid around a shelf of items. I then peaked out from behind the shelf and Miller caught my eye. I thought it might be fun to play peak-a-boo with him. When he didn't respond to that, I started walking toward him like I was going to tickle him (something we do at home all the time). Rather than smile and get excited, he promptly looked at me like I was a stranger, puckered his bottom lip out, and started wailing! Once I picked him up, he quickly calmed down though and from then on kept smiling at me as we walked around the store.

Enough randomness from me for one post. Have a great day!

Merry Christmas from the Uptons!

2008-12-25T11:44:00.002-06:00

A little Christmas song for your enjoyment--Merry Christmas from our family to you!

My baby's blue eyes

2008-12-13T22:59:00.018-06:00

These days Miller is too busy crawling to let us get too many pictures of him. Usually he is trying to crawl to us, wanting to get the camera from us and put it in his mouth. Really, have you seen him lately? I don't think he needs to eat our camera. Looks to me like he is getting plenty to eat.

Here he is trying to eat Maxwell's jingle bells. I am glad Maxwell was out with daddy during this photo shoot!

We have spent two weeks trying to get a picture of both boys together for our Christmas card, but since our camera is somewhat slow, we haven't captured anything, but today, I got him. Nothing Christmas card worthy, but look at those baby blues! And those lashes...I am so jealous!

This last picture I actually got as he was trying to crawl up my lap to get the camera. Little stinker...cute, but a stinker nonetheless.

Squishy Eyes

2008-12-12T23:09:00.003-06:00

Today I sent Maxwell outside to play because he needed to burn off some energy and was driving me crazy inside. After being outside for barely 5 minutes, he came to the door and said, "Mommy, I have to come inside" to which I asked, "Why?"

With all seriousness, he looked at me, pointed to his squinted eyes and said, "The sun's so bright it's making my eyes squishy." I tried to find his sunglasses to keep him outside, but couldn't find them. Within a few minutes of me starting to feed Miller, he was back inside with his shoes off. Blasted squishy eyes!

Ummm, George, It's Snowing Outside

2008-12-10T22:30:00.010-06:00

For those of you who live in the Bryan/College Station area, you are probably tired of hearing about the surprise weather we had today, but for those of you who don't live here, read on!

This morning we woke up and Maria said, "It's cold in here". For whatever reason, that made me think to look out the window and much to my surprise, we had snow/sleet on the ground. We quickly got Maxwell bundled up, I threw on jeans and a jacket, and we ran outside to play in the light dusting of snow we received in the early morning hours. Maxwell loved throwing snowballs and even said, "Daddy, I'm throwing snowballs like Curious George!" and "Now I want to go sledding like Curious George". I told him we couldn't go sledding because there wasn't enough snow and we don't have a sled. Here is a picture of our early morning fun that we thought was over when everything melted. Then about 3 PM, Maria woke Maxwell up from his nap because it was snowing (enough to see that it was snowing) and that began our 5 hour playday in the snow! Since snow is such a rarity around here, I even came home early from work so we could all play together. Rae Rae also came over (she finished finals today AND it was her 21st birthday) and played with Maxwell in the backyard. While we were playing, the flakes just kept getting bigger and bigger, and the snow actually started accumulating on the ground. We ate dinner, went for a drive to see Christmas lights in the snow, and then came home to build Maxwell's first snowman. Our friends Sherman and Rachel Watters also stopped by and Sherman helped Maxwell and me build the snowman and a baby snowman to go with it. The slideshow below gives a snapshot of the 5 hours of fun in the snow!

Maxwell is "Straight Arrow"

2008-11-20T14:49:00.005-06:00

In the post titled "School Days at the Renaissance Festival" from earlier this week, I mentioned that I would come back to a story about Maxwell's first foray into archery. The reason I waited is because today was Maxwell's Thanksgiving Feast at Kingdom Kids (his preschool at our church--he is in the Sunbeams class). In learning about the Pilgrims and Native Americans, each student was given a new name and Maxwell's is "Straight Arrow".

Now back to the Renaissance Festival--when his buddy Aiden's daddy (Mr. Riley) was helping him learn how to shoot an arrow, Maxwell did pretty well at hitting the target. He did so well that on about the 4th or 5th time he shot the bow and arrow, he shot an arrow right into the heart of the dragon (see the picture below--you have to zoom in, the black spot in the middle of the dragon's heart closest to him is the arrow)!
When Mrs. Pam gave Maxwell the name "Straight Arrow" she had no idea that he had done this, so when he told us his new name we thought that was pretty amazing. Straight Arrow indeed--may Maxwell be used for God's glory as a straight arrow for his name and renown!

Hey! He took my my kettle corn!

2008-11-19T18:00:00.006-06:00

So I promised a funny story from the Texas Renaissance Festival and here it is:

Our friends, the Migliaccio family, owns the kettle corn business at the Renaissance Festival so one of the first things we did when we got there was to find their booth and get some kettle corn. We enjoyed some of it after lunch and went to ride the elephant (see the picture below):

After we were done with our elephant ride, we walked over to tell Mommy about the elephant's rough and hairy skin (who knew an elephant was so hairy!) and as we were talking about it, the elephants came back by and stuck out their trunks for everyone to pet. When one of the elephants got to us, he apparently smelled Maxwell's kettle corn on top of Miller's stroller, reached out for it, picked it up, and put the entire bag into his mouth (yes, plastic bag, twisty tie, and kettle corn)! It all happened so fast that we didn't even have time to react (in retrospect, Maria said she was worried about the elephant reaching out to Miller and trying to "get him", but in the moment, we didn't know what to do). Maxwell immediately burst into tears and everyone around us thought it was because he was scared. In reality, it was because the elephant took his kettle corn--needless to say, the Migliaccios graciously replaced his stolen kettle corn. So the lesson here is to guard your kettle corn if you find yourself close to an elephant!

School Days at the Texas Renaissance Festival

2008-11-19T12:00:00.000-06:00

At the end of October, the Texas Renaissance Festival hosts "School Days" for two days in the middle of the week. The cost for tickets and some of the activities is supposedly reduced and the really raunchy "stuff" is closed on these days. We decided that it would be a good idea to take Maxwell this year so all four of us loaded up and headed to Plantersville, Texas for the day.

We were supposed to meet a few other families who were there for the day, but we only saw one family, the Rileys, who inspired Maxwell to try his hand at archery (more on this when we post about his Thanksgiving Feast at school later this week...I promise you'll be able to see the connection then!). Here are a few pictures from the day:

Maxwell and Daddy getting ready to ride the spinning top

Maxwell and Mommy on the giant swing!

Maxwell on the bungee cord jumper - yes, he is that high!

We had a fun day, but we think once is enough for us! I have another funny story to tell about our day, but I'll save that for tomorrow. Oh, and Miller was an absolute trooper throughout the day--he only cried once, and that was right before he was supposed to eat.

Our answered prayer...a new car!

2008-11-18T20:27:00.003-06:00

Many of you have been praying for us over the past month or so as we have been looking for a 2nd vehicle (after 9 years of being a one car family, the time had come!). We have looked at more vehicles than anyone would ever want to and we've made 3 trips to Dallas to check out different ones--each time thinking we would buy that one. Now, as Paul Harvey would say, here is, "the rest of the story":

We looked at a car about 4 weeks ago, had a mechanic check it out (he gave us the "all clear"), and were ready to buy it. When we went back to the dealership to try to agree on a price, instead of countering my offer, they actually told us that they would have to increase the price because of the two minor repairs that we were requesting them to make (fix the passenger side door power lock and fix one of the back windows so it would open like it was supposed to, totaling about $320). Needless to say, I walked away. After 3 more weeks, they had lowered the price below what we originally offered so we called them back and made them a lower offer. Again, they chose not to counter...so we waited for another week. Then on Friday of last week, I saw that they had lowered the price another $500 so, at Maria's encouragement, I called on Saturday and offered the same price I had a week ago. The sales manager told me he would have to check on it and get back with me. In less than 10 minutes, he had called back saying they would sell it for that price, but that he wouldn't hold the vehicle for me (in other words, if someone came along before I could get there to pick it up and offered a higher price, he was going to sell it to them). He would hold it for the day when we told him we were coming to purchase the car though so we made arrangements at my work, called my parents to ask if they could come stay with the boys on Monday while we drove to Dallas, and we called the dealership to tell them to hold it until Monday (they are closed on Sundays).

So yesterday at about 1 PM, Maria and I left the Sewell Hummer dealership in Dallas with our new car (see below--no, it isn't the white Hummer in the background, it is the Honda Odyssey in the front--the Hummer was a mere $70,000 so we chose the Honda instead!).

Thank you to everyone who prayed...and sorry it has been so long since I posted.

Maxwell's dreams

2008-10-06T22:23:00.003-05:00

Tonight on the way home from Kindermusik, we had an interesting conversation with Maxwell. I'll do my best to provide the "transcript" below.
Maxwell: "Daddy, sometimes when I sleep, I have dreams."
Daddy: "Really, what do you dream about?"
Maxwell: "About taking a bath in an elevator."
Daddy: "Oh...and what happens to the water when the elevator doors open?"
Maxwell: "The water goes down the drain."
Daddy: "You mean, it just runs out the door of the elevator?"
Maxwell: "Yeah...but when the door closes it fills back up with really warm water that makes you feel good."
Mommy: "But no one sees you when you are taking a bath do they?"
Maxwell: "No...well sometimes people do."

...and that was the end of the conversation! I am constantly amazed at how a child's mind works. We still have no idea what sparked the thought about dreams in his mind or why he brought it up, but he did! Now, we are praying that he continues to feel like he can tell us anything (well, almost anything) that pops into his mind.

10 WONDERFUL years!

2008-09-05T20:25:00.010-05:00

Ten years ago today, I had the privilege of marrying Maria LeAnn Summers, and I must say that I am a blessed man. She is the love of my life, my best friend, my confidant, my encourager, the mother of my BEAUTIFUL children, and more than I could have ever dreamed to have as my wife. I know the words may seem overused in some situations, but they sum up exactly how I feel...GOD IS SO GOOD!

In our ten years, we've lived in two towns (Houston and College Station), we've experienced good jobs and bad jobs, a lay-off and 9 months of unemployment for me (I promise I am employable and have since held a job for 8 years straight!), infertility, much laughter, many tears; we've been blessed with two beautiful boys, Maxwell and Miller, and we have some really wonderful memories together.

While this post is mainly about honoring my beautiful bride, I would be remiss if I did not also thank our families for the heritage of lasting marriages they have passed on to us. My paternal grandparents have been married for 69 years, my parents just celebrated 42 years of marriage (on September 3--happy anniversary mom & dad!), and Maria's parents have been married for 45 years. We look forward to many more years together and to passing along this amazing heritage to our children!

Happy Anniversary Precious! I love you,

Matt

Summer Fun

2008-06-11T15:07:00.003-05:00

One of the presents Maxwell received for his birthday is this great beach ball sprinkler. While he enjoys playing with the sprinkler the way it was intended, from the very first time he used it he realized he could also disconnect the water hose from it and have fun with just the hose. Almost every day now I (Maria) hear, "Mommy can I go outside and play with the water hose?" Who knew that a beach ball sprinkler and water hose could provide so much fun?!

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a breakthrough moment...this is Maria's first official blogger post on our family blog. Please congratulate her. --Matt

Miller at 3 months

2008-06-02T21:45:00.000-05:00

It is hard to believe that Miller is already 3 months old. Yes, he is sleeping through the night (from about 9 or 9:30 PM until 7 or 7:30 AM) and yes, we are starting to feel human again. We have already started to notice personality differences between he and Maxwell and it is fun to see him grow into the little man God created him to be. Miller adores his big brother Maxwell and will follow him across a room or across the backyard while Maxwell runs around.

He also has quite a smile and will talk to us and even giggle a little if the mood strikes him (case in point about personality differences--at this point, Maxwell would giggle uncontrollably at some of the silly things we would do; Miller just giggles once or twice and stops). He is an absolute joy to have in our family and we love having him in our lives!

Explain This!

2008-06-01T23:29:00.003-05:00

The picture below gives you a glimpse into the world we live...if only you could see Maxwell's depiction of what it would look like if he were to actually pump. No need to worry though--we've told him that boys don't produce milk and thus he has no need to pump. He has assured us that he is "just pretending"--oh the imagination of a 4 year old!

Maxwell's Latest Performance

2008-05-15T23:42:00.010-05:00

Maxwell came home from school the other day singing two new songs. When I picked him up from school on Thursday he started singing one about Peter Rabbit who had a fly on his ear, flicked it off, and it flew away. The song was cute and made even cuter by the hand motions. After I dropped him off at the house and went back to work, he then debuted another new song for Maria. Thankfully, he was willing to present an encore so I could see and hear it (and capture it on video tape). We hope you enjoy!

NOTE: The word "ungrella" is his way of saying "umbrella". We think it is so cute that we have actually considered using his version instead of the "real" word just so he'll keep saying it! Are there any things you wish your kids still did or would continue doing because they are so cute?

Moms

2008-05-11T22:37:00.011-05:00

Today is a very special day because it is a day we specifically set aside to honor moms. With the birth of Miller this year, I have had a number of reminders about why moms, and specifically the mother of my two boys, are so important! With both of our boys, I have seen my wife selflessly give up her own comfort and sacrifice for them both. From not giving up on breastfeeding even when it was painful or took longer than she wanted (with both of them!), to giving up dairy and eggs (have you ever stopped to think of how many food items have those two products in them?), my precious Maria has chosen to serve our family by giving them the very best. I am honored to be her husband and to raise our boys with her by my side. I can't imagine life without her. We love you Maria/Mommy and are honored to bless you today (and thanks to our friend Patrick, who took this great picture today).

Our hearts also go out to all the moms in the world who can't hold their babies today because they are already with the Lord or haven't been sent from the Lord yet (we pray in faith that the heart's desire of these women, to hold their child will soon be fulfilled). You see, for us Mother's Day was a very hard day until we had Maxwell and I can remember one particular year that this day was almost more than we could take. After 2 years of trying to conceive a child, it just didn't seem like it was going to happen. The tears fell hard that year.

So even now, with two children of our own, we often think of all the moms who are hurting today...because no matter how hard you try, when you want to have children and you haven't been able to your family just feels incomplete. So if you know someone for whom Mother's Day is not a blessing because of their unfulfilled longing for children, say a prayer that their heart's desire would soon be fulfilled.

Finally, a special shout-out to my mom, Rita, and Maria's mom, Minnie. Neither one of us would be who we are today without your prayers and love. Thanks for being such great moms!

Happy Birthday Maxwell!

2008-05-05T00:14:00.008-05:00

NOTE: I originally started this on his actual birthday, May 4 (sorry it was posted late).

Four years ago today, Maxwell was born at 5:52 PM. He weighed 8 lbs 14 oz and was 21 inches long. He was helpless and we were to help him grow and thrive. We have had our fair share of feeling helpless as we have tried to do just that.

Today we had a special day doing almost everything Maxwell wanted to do (you still have to maintain boundaries, right?!). We had waffles for breakfast, Freebirds for lunch, cake after his nap, and time outside with his new birthday presents (most of them were outdoor toys). All in all we had a great day...but that isn't the most important part. We want to share some things that we love about Maxwell--a blessing so to speak.

We love how loving Maxwell is--he will often spontaneously come to us and say, "I love you daddy" or "I love you mommy". He apparently does the same thing with his teacher, Mrs. Lisa.

We love listening to him sing and watching/listening to him listen to music. From Watermark/Mrs. Christy to Kindermusik, he is really developing quite an ear for music.

We love watching him with his baby brother. He really does love Miller and is very sweet to him (we are enjoying it now since Miller can't take toys away from him).

We love that he loves, yes, I mean loves, his friends. Not a day goes by that he doesn't ask to play with a friend or have a friend come over. Having a brother is going to be great for him as Miller grows up.

We love his laugh...I mean, when he really gets to laughing, I can't help myself. We also love that he wants so desperately to make others laugh (unfortunately, as a boy, he thinks that sometimes involves words like poop and toot).

We love that he wants to please people (us, his teachers, his friends)--for now, we see this as a good thing! Our prayer is that this will translate in his life into wanting to please the Lord...and not worry about pleasing man.

I (Matt) love that he asks me almost every day, "Do you have to go to work today, daddy?"

We love how passionate he is about everything and how he wants to share it with everyone. Give the boy a new toy/CD/radio/etc. and he wants to take it everywhere with us and show anyone who will listen (and often many who don't listen because they don't know he is talking to them).

We love how kind he is...when a friend is sick, he wants to pray for them; when he sees one of us crying, he wants to know why; when Miller is crying, he tries to make him feel better by turning on music or making sure Maria knows that he is probably hungry.

After 2 1/2 years of trying and 10 months of pregnancy, we look back on that almost 3 1/2 years of waiting for him and realize it was well worth the wait. If we had conceived at any other time, we wouldn't have our precious Maxwell. Thank you Lord for choosing us to shepherd his heart for you and your glory.

Maroon and White game

2008-05-02T13:00:00.011-05:00

Maxwell is finally at the age where we feel like he can go to Aggie sporting events and allow all of us to enjoy them. The only problem is that the events can be so expensive...but not the Maroon and White game! Each year at the end of spring practices, the Texas A&M football team hosts a scrimmage that is open to the fans--children through college age are free and adults are only $5 (compared to the $50 tickets you have to purchase for EACH PERSON, including infants, for a real game). Here is Maxwell decked out in his football jersey (thanks to Dr. Gail Weatherly) on his way to the game.

Some friends of ours, the Rileys, were smart and combined a birthday party for their youngest son, Cal, with the festivities leading up to the game. Needless to say, Maxwell had even more fun at the game because he got to play with his buddy Aiden (the Rileys oldest son). Here are the two of them at the game.

At "halftime", we even got to see the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band perform an entire routine. We had a great time and hopefully next year all four of us will be able to go (Maria stayed home with Miller). I have a feeling this will become an annual tradition in the Upton home since Maxwell talks about the game every time we pass Kyle Field followed by the question, "when are we going to go to the football game again, daddy?"

Miller Update

2008-05-01T22:55:00.005-05:00

Miller is really starting to wake up from what I think of as the "newborn sleepies". He is smiling at us, listening to our voices and then following with his eyes, babbling, and even starting to attempt a laugh.

It really is a fun time and Maxwell continues to be so sweet to him. Each morning he tells Miller "good morning brother" and gives him a kiss. Then at night he tells him goodnight and says "Ooo-py" and attempts to hug him goodnight. Here are a couple of pictures of Miller. If you think your screen tint is off a bit and that his lips look blue in the picture with Maria, don't try to adjust the color. We had to treat him with gentian violet for thursh a couple of weeks ago so his mouth was blue for a week.

Pearly Whites

2008-04-29T20:59:00.007-05:00

Maxwell had his first dentist appointment at the end of March and, as you can tell from the picture below, he had no problems opening wide for his first visit to the dentist.

After just a little bit of trepidation, Maxwell really did a great job with his cleaning and check-up. The first picture (on the left) is Maxwell with our dental hygienist, Ms. Alyssa and he really liked Mr. Thirsty (the instrument they use to suck up all the "stuff" in your mouth from the cleaning).

Finally, the picture on the right is him with Dr. Kaiser. They are all smiles because everything looked good and he has all of the teeth he is supposed to have! We do have to floss his teeth, which isn't always the easiest with an "almost" 4 year old, because he is like his mom and has teeth that a really close together.

NOTE: We've had a lot going on lately so I hope to take the next few days to try to catch up on our blogging.

Four weeks or one month?

2008-03-30T22:43:00.010-05:00

Okay, so I have to admit that the whole "age" thing for babies doesn't always make sense to me. When people ask me how old Miller is, I tell them he is four weeks old tomorrow, but in most people's mind, isn't that the same as being one month old? From what I understand though, you can respond with either the "weeks" age or the "months" age...or even a combination. If I'm wrong, would someone (likely a woman because I doubt any man has even thought about this) please tell me by leaving a comment?

Regardless, Miller has hit a milestone--he is four weeks old tomorrow and will officially be one month old on April 3 (also my dad's birthday--happy birthday dad/grandad!). When we had Maxwell, a very dear friend told us that the only advice he had was to survive the first 6-8 weeks. Such wonderful advice and that means that we are either 2/3 or 1/2 of the way there! Yippee!

Maria took these pictures last week and I thought many of you (or at least the 3 of you who read this) would like to see the latest. Have a great week!

Happy Easter from the Uptons!

2008-03-22T13:05:00.005-05:00

As we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior, we leave you with this message from Maxwell about the King of Kings. Happy Easter from the four of us!

Maxwell-isms

2008-03-20T23:00:00.006-05:00

Just a few things our oldest son has said lately...

To Maria and Rae Rae (our dear friend and babysitter Rachel) while playing outside:
"When Miller gets bigger I'm going to teach him how to drink out of a big boy cup...(long pause) and spit."

To us while talking about praying and about how Jesus prayed to God in the garden of Gethsemane:
"You can pray to Jesus or God, it doesn't matter which one."

(I'm taking the liberty to tell on myself as a father and a man). To me while giving him a bath one night:
Maxwell: "Daddy, what do you say when you have a stinky toot?"
Daddy: "Excuse me."
Maxwell: "Daddy, when you toot, it's like a nightmare."

To Maria after giving Miller a kiss right after he was done nursing:
"Mommy, when I give Miller a kiss on the lips, he thinks it's 'milky' time."

To both of us while we were driving home from dinner and Miller was crying:
"Look daddy! When I hold Miller's hand, he stops crying." (and Miller really did stop crying as long as Maxwell was holding his hand)

To Miller:
"I love you Miller" and then to us, "I wish he could say 'I love you' back to me".

To Papa (Maria's dad) while taking a nap on the couch:
"Papa, quit your honking!"

Although we know it will be full of challenges (it already is!), we also know that having 2 boys is going to be a lot of fun! Have a great day and be sure to check back for our Easter message.

Maxwell's Music Video Premieres

2008-03-17T00:40:00.005-05:00

Today we are posting not one, but TWO Maxwell music video premieres. Here he is singing "Light of the World" and "Be Blessed" (his title, the real title is "Knees to the Earth"). Both songs are by his favorite singer, Mrs. Christy Nockels of Watermark (a duo made up of her and her husband, Nathan).

Many of you know that Christy (I say that as though we know her personally--we don't) is one of our favorite singers,too, so you might be interested to know that according to her myspace page, she is currently recording an album that will hopefully come out this spring. If you aren't familiar with her music, go here to hear a sample or simply ask us--we'll gladly let you borrow a CD or two (we have them all including their original work as Sons and Daughters with Charlie Hall).

Welcome Baby Miller!

2008-03-16T23:09:00.012-05:00

On Monday, March 3 (his actual due date) at 3:48 PM we welcomed Miller Isaac Upton into the world. He was 9 lbs. 2 oz. and was 21 1/2 inches long...and Maria delivered him completely naturally (when your wife delivers a 9 lb. baby with no drugs, that is worth bragging about!). Mommy and baby did beautifully and we had no complications (praise the Lord).

We came home on Tuesday evening and then were back in the hospital with jaundice from Thursday until Saturday morning. Unfortunately that makes us 0 for 2 in having a single hospital stay when our children are born (Maria had a serious infection after Maxwell was born and was back in the hospital for a week followed by 10 days of outpatient IV antibiotics). That was the only downside...and hopefully on our third one (Lord willing we have a third child) we'll make it in and out of the hospital with no return visits!

Maxwell adores his little brother, showers him with kisses, and tells him, "Miller, I love you!" After telling Miller he loved him several times, Maxwell finally looked at us and said, "I wish he could say he loved me back." So sweet! We'll obviously have more about our two boys so stay tuned!

Reminiscing--how cute is this?!

2008-02-18T15:09:00.007-06:00

As we continue to get ready for Miller's arrival (hopefully sooner rather than later for Maria's sake), Maria came across this video of Maxwell when he was 2.

Oh my goodness--Maxwell has changed so much and speaks so differently now, but he is so cute here. Two of my favorite parts are "Optober" and "wu-dee" for "Love you!" I know everyone says children grow up so quickly, but you never realize how true that is until you have one of your own!

Where to begin?

2008-02-08T22:10:00.000-06:00

It has been so long since I've updated our blog, and I'm not sure what blog etiquette is. Do I try to go back and add posts about all of our December and January activities or do I just act as though those never happened (at least for the blog) and pick up with the here and now? If you have any thoughts about this, feel free to leave a comment and maybe I'll take your advice!

For now, I'll start with something we did tonight. I've been on what I'll call a "retro candy" kick. On Sunday we bought some Pop Rocks and let Maxwell try that. Then later this week I had a sudden craving for Fun Dip and my dear wife found some at the grocery store (they put everything in individual packets to give away as Valentine's cards these days). So tonight, we let Maxwell try some after dinner. Did he enjoy it? I think the pictures explain it all.

The season of fall...Texas style

2007-11-22T21:14:00.000-06:00

For those of you who live in Texas (that is likely to be everyone who reads this), you know that the season known as fall or autumn doesn't really exist here. Earlier this week the temperatures were in the 80s (thankfully today the tempearture was in the 50s--just in time for Thanksgiving).

As a result, we have to be creative in how we teach Maxwell about this particular season (winter is another story!). Here are some pictures from earlier in the fall when we went to a local pumpkin patch and then when we made pancakes in the shape of leaves. We hope that wherever you are, you have enjoyed the fall season!

Family Costumes and the Country Fair

2007-11-22T20:50:00.000-06:00

So I know I'm a little late on this one and my original goal was to have this up BEFORE Thanksgiving, but that didn't happen. For the Country Fair at our church this year (for Halloween), Maxwell wanted to be Elmo. Now I've never liked dressing up for costume parties or the like, so even I was surprised that I wanted to join in on the fun. For many of you, you'll look at these pictures and think, "Maxwell is so cute...but what is Matt dressed up as?" For those of you with children though, you may recognize me as Mr. Noodle (or Mr. Noodle's brother, Mr. Noodle). We had a great time at the Country Fair this year and thanks to Maxwell's Nana (my mom) for making both the Elmo and Mr. Noodle costumes!

Maxwell's Music...

2007-10-10T09:59:00.000-05:00

If you ever ride in the car with us, specifically with Maxwell, you will discover that he always has an opinion about what song/music should be playing. And he always wants music playing! If he rides in someone else's car, he always asks for his favorite songs, too (whether you have the song on CD or not!).

His favorite songs include "Light of the World" and "Be Blessed" (aka "Knees to the Earth" - his titles don't always match the actual song title) by Mrs. Christy (Christy Nockels of Watermark), "The Bear Song" ("How Can I Keep From Singing") by Mr. Chris (Tomlin), and a number of songs off of 2 different "Hide 'Em In Your Heart" CDs by Steve Green (great for adult and children scripture memory!).

He has also recently discovered our iPod nano and loves to put it on and listen to "Light of the World" over and over again. When are they going to add a repeat button on the iPods? Or is there one on there that I don't know about?!

UPDATE: Thanks to our friend Joyce B., we know where the repeat button is on the iPod--Maxwell thanks you, Joyce!

A baby brother or a baby sister?

2007-10-02T21:42:00.001-05:00

The question we have been asking Maxwell since before we even knew we were pregnant has been "Do you want a baby brother or a baby sister?" For a while, he would say he wanted a baby brother one time and a baby sister the next time. After we found out we were pregnant though he has been stuck on having a baby brother.

So when Nanny and Papa came in this weekend and starting asking Maxwell about having a baby sister, he looked at them and said, "Baby sisters are no good...I want a baby brother." As a result, they made it their mission to help him be okay with having a baby sister. Yesterday we had our ultrasound and this time decided to find out the gender of the baby. So now when you ask Maxwell whether her is having a baby brother or baby sister, he will tell you that he is having a baby sister. The only problem with that is that the ultrasound says he is having a baby brother. Go figure!

Fun with Uncle Skip and McKinley

2007-09-20T22:16:00.000-05:00

Earlier this summer Maria's oldest brother, Skip, and his son, McKinley, made a trip from Atlanta, Georgia to Texas for a few days. Maxwell had a blast with his cousin and uncle and I wasn't complaining because it meant I had a little extra help when I mowed the yard that week. Here are some pictures from their visit...as you can tell, Maxwell really enjoyed snuggling up with McKinley on the couch first thing in the morning to watch Elmo and Curious George.

He also had some fun being silly with both Uncle Skip and McKinley--we just wish we lived closer to them so we could have more times like this!

Fun in the summer

2007-09-12T16:11:00.000-05:00

As I said in my "back to school" post, we've had a busy summer. From going back and forth to Maria's parents in Dallas for surgeries (hip replacement for mom--ouch!) and hospital stays (perforated colon for dad--ouch!), to Uncle Skip and McKinley visiting us, to me teaching a class during second summer session, to getting ready for the new year at A&M, I don't even feel like we had the typical summer "break".

Oh, and then, there is the fun news--see the picture of Maxwell below, read his shirt, and you should be able to figure things out (if you don't already know). We are all excited, but Maria has had a terrible bout of nausea for the past 4-5 weeks so Maxwell and I have been a little more on our own than usual (she's been here, but when you feel like she has, you don't move around a lot!).

Thanks to my mom and dad for coming in to help me with Maxwell while Maria took some time to go help her parents out. We'll share more about the visit from Uncle Skip and McKinley soon!

Back to school

2007-09-10T21:13:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't updated the blog much lately--the beginning of the school year is always a bit hectic at work and, as a result, in our lives. Turning to more important, and fun, things though--last week Maxwell started back to Kingdom Kids, the preschool at Grace Bible Church (our amazing church). The big difference this year is that since Maxwell is 3, we no longer have the option of sending him just one day a week. Now he goes every Tuesday and Thursday from 9 AM to 2 PM and although mommy is thankful for some extra time to get things done around the house and town, I know it is harder for her than she might admit.

While I would love to include a video clip from his first day of school, I made the terrible mistake of looking at the video camera battery charge symbol incorrectly. As a result, we got to the church last Tuesday, I turned around with the camera on and said, "Maxwell, where are we going today?" He replied, "To school!" and my camera immediately started flashing the "battery dead" symbol. Needless to say we were disappointed, but at least we have these pictures of his first day (okay, so we only have 4 pictures total and I'm only including 2)--decked out with a new backpack, new tennis shoes, and a new shirt.

We are so thankful that his assistant teacher from last year, Mrs. Lisa, is his lead teacher this year with Ms. Kate as his new assistant teacher. Many of his classmates are also from his class last year--Jackson, Wyatt, Andrew, Miranda, Gigi, and a few others I can't remember right now. Last year he was in Mrs. April's "frog" class and this year he is in the "apple" class. We aren't concerned that he is moving down the food chain though (aren't frogs higher than apples on the food chain?) as the entire Kingdom Kids staff is wonderful and the program is a treat for him to participate in. In addition to class time with Mrs. Lisa and Ms. Kate, Maxwell also gets to participate in movement class with Ms. Beth and, his favorite activity, music with Ms. Marianne.

I really do have many things to blog about (it was a busy summer), but we don't want to overwhelm you all at once!

Right back atcha...

2007-08-14T11:36:00.000-05:00

While I have not done a scientific study to determine if other 3 year old children can wink, I do believe that Maxwell is one of the few who does it so well. His papa taught him how to wink a long time ago and then I (Matt) decided that he needed to add a little something more so I taught him how to open his mouth and give his "right back atcha" look. For your viewing pleasure, here is a picture of Maxwell winking--especially for you. We hope you have a fantastic day!

Missing our friends

2007-07-08T22:51:00.000-05:00

Do you remember being a kid and missing your friends during the summer when everyone was on a different schedule and people went on vacation? Well that is where we are right now in the Upton home...we miss our friends the Mortons. We've grown so accustomed to them being a part of our lives that when they are gone, we miss them terribly...and I'm not just talking about Maxwell missing Elizabeth (although he does miss her).

Call us the "Morton Fan Club" if you will, but we are ready for them to be back in town so we can see them more regularly. Mexican food just loses its flavor when you don't have good friends to share it with and, although we haven't been to the pool with them yet, time at the pool tonight with all our other friends just didn't feel quite right without them there. We loved the time with everyone else, but we sure do miss them.

Come home soon dear friends!

Maxwell's fruit thief friend

2007-07-06T11:06:00.001-05:00

If you spend any time with us, you will likely hear us talk about our amazing friends, the Browns (Larry, Lizi, Isaac, Rachel, and Daniel--they have another son, Aaron, who is married to Sarah, but I consider them their "own" family). When we met them in 1999, we became fast friends and our lives have forever been changed by their love, friendship and mentoring.

With Rachel coming to A&M in the fall and Daniel well on his way to becoming a tennis pro, I'm sure you'll see their names mentioned again on this blog. This entry is about Maxwell's adoration of Isaac though.

You see, Isaac and Maxwell have a special bond. Isaac attempted and then succeeded in stealing Maxwell's fruit one time (a grape to be exact) and Maxwell has been hooked ever since. It was inevitable--anyone who would show a love for fruit that matches Maxwell was destined to become his friend. So now, every time we are with Isaac, Maxwell wants him to "steal" some fruit so he can then share it with him.

Isaac is about to move to Washington, DC though so their times for sharing fruit will become a little more sporadic and I know Maxwell will miss those times. We'll miss Isaac, too, and wish him the very best in the next season of his life!

Encourage one another and build each other up!

2007-06-30T14:47:00.000-05:00

One of Maxwell's favorite songs is based on I Thes. 5:11 and the words are, "Encourage one another and build each other up, build each other up, build each other up! Encourage one another and build each other up...up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up!"

In our best effort to teach him how to encourage others, we've been teaching him to say kind words. Since he typically only uses unkind words to mommy, I've really been trying to work with him to be kind to her.

Here is an example of one of our exchanges.
Matt: "Maxwell, what is something kind you can say to mommy?"
Maxwell: "Mommy, your so pretty!"
We've also taught him that women are "pretty" and men are "handsome".

This morning though, he decided that he needed to hear kind words about himself. As he walked out of the room we heard him proclaim, "I'm so handsome!" (picture from this morning is included here)

I guess we all need to hear kind words sometimes, but unfortunately, our intention wasn't to teach him to brag on himself!

That little man

2007-06-13T11:29:00.000-05:00

One of the things that Maxwell has been doing lately that cracks us up is referring to every man he doesn't know as "that little man". Here are some examples of him using the phrase lately.

Last weekend at the Weatherly's house, he worked hard all weekend to pronounce "Mrs. Weatherly" when we told him where we were going. After riding on the tractor Friday night with Dr. Weatherly we went to their house and got ready for bed, but Dr. Weatherly had to stay in the fields and finish up so Maxwell never made the connection that his last name was Weatherly, too. The next morning (at 6:30 AM) Maxwell walked out of the bedroom and saw Dr. Weatherly downstairs. Not knowing his name he ran back in and said, "Daddy, daddy! That little man I rode on the tractor with is downstairs!"

Then this morning when Maria and Maxwell were dropping me off at work the landscape crew was out working. Maxwell looked at us and said, "That little man isn't gonna get me with that thing, is he?!" That thing was a weed eater and we assured him that we would not let "that little man" get him. Too funny!

Friends and a fruity festival

2007-06-12T22:40:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, the three of us made a trip to Nacogdoches, Texas for the Texas Blueberry Festival. What made the weekend even better is that our friends, the Weatherly's, live in Nacogdoches (little did we know that they live on 100 acres surrounded by 3 creeks, thus the name of their place, "Triple Creek", and it was stunningly beautiful).

I haven't been to Nacogdoches since 1989 when my sister was in school there (sorry to age you Jana) and had forgotten how beautiful that part of Texas is. While the Blueberry Festival was our original reason for going, we only lasted 2 hours there--if you've been to one festival/fair, I contend that you have been to them all. In that two hours, we waited in line for 30 minutes for blueberry pancakes, sat in folding chairs with Maxwell in my lap while trying to feed him, burned his little mouth on a blueberry (the rest of the pancake was cool, I promise), walked by a number of booths with "interesting" items, and had the joy of taking Maxwell into his first port-a-potty (icky).

The highlight of the weekend for all of us was time with Jim and Gail Weatherly. We got to meet their pet longhorn Jay, Maxwell rode in the instructor seat on Dr. Weatherly's new tractor, we played with water balloons, met two of their grandsons (and Maxwell got to play with them), ran up and down the stairs in the house, played in their fabulous playroom, and went to Dr. Weatherly's veterinary clinic and saw the puppies and kitty cats. Maria and I also thoroughly enjoyed the time to visit with them and meet some of their family.

I'm big now...

2007-06-07T13:51:00.000-05:00

I had the privilege of eating lunch with Maria and Maxwell today at the new Blue Baker (by the way, it is huge and really nice, not to mention there is a fountain in front of it!). After we ate, they took me back to my office and on the way Maxwell made a rather profound statement...

"I'm big now because I can open my Freebird."

Now if that doesn't make you proud, I just don't know what will! The funny part is that we haven't eaten at Freebirds in at least 5 days. :) If you aren't familiar with Freebirds, they make these really yummy and BIG burritos and Maxwell really likes them (he and I usually share). If you know about Freebirds, then you know what I'm talking about. Whether you know about Freebirds or not, come see us and we'll be glad to go eat there with you!

One step ahead of us

2007-06-05T11:26:00.000-05:00

Our dear friends, the Mortons, always seem to be one step ahead of us when it comes to posting blogs about activities that Maxwell and his best girl buddy (and their daughter), Elizabeth, did together. For instance, check out their blog from yesterday titled "Summer Fun".

We think the picture of Maxwell with his arm around Elizabeth is just adorable! Thanks to Shannon for capturing it (despite initial protests from Elizabeth).

Our son...the fisherman?!

2007-06-04T19:40:00.000-05:00

While Maria and I were fighting crowds in New York City, Maxwell was at Nana & Grandad's enjoying the simpler, quieter way of life in the country (I grew up in a town of just over 700 people in southeast Texas--Hardin, Texas). Now I love my dad (probably even more than he knows!), but one thing that we do not share a common interest in is fishing and hunting. I simply don't have the patience to sit on the bank of a pond, lake, creek, etc. and wait for the fish to bite. I wanted to like fishing, but sitting still is not something I have a natural talent for, so I struggled to enjoy those times with my dad (until Coach Vandiver got a bass boat--then I could enjoy fishing because we were out on a boat, but that is a different story). The fish didn't seem to want to bite when I was fishing with dad either, so that made things even worse.

Now back to Maxwell and his time with Grandad. They planned to go fishing all week, but every day it rained or something prevented them from going. Then on Friday they finally had a chance to go fishing in the afternoon. On the first cast Maxwell pulled in a 3 inch fish (seen above). After a few more casts, he reeled in a 4-5 inch fish (seen to the left).

Then, a few casts later, he reeled in this one!

If my dad is reading this (not sure "blogs" are on his radar screen yet!), then I'm sorry to say that, based on my ability to fish (or lack thereof), I'm going to have to attribute Maxwell's early talent to the White side of the family (Maria's mom's family). They are from Newfoundland in Canada (affectionately referred to as Newfies) and Maria's grandfather and some of her uncles were fishermen by trade. Heaven knows he didn't get the fishing talent from me!

Getting rid of the fur

2007-06-04T18:43:00.001-05:00

Many of you have heard us tell stories about our frustration with Maxwell pulling the fur out of his favorite stuffed puppy, Moses. Apparently, telling him not to pull the fur out of Moses stuck with him. Last week, we decided that both Maxwell and I were in desperate need of a haircut before we set out on our trip (I had a conference in New York City that Maria joined me on and Maxwell went to Nana and Grandad's) so we set up our barber shop in the garage and Maria cut our hair. The funniest part was at the end when were were cleaning up and Maxwell said, "Daddy, we are cleaning up because mommy got all the fur off of us."

Included below is a before and after shot--and the funny face we are making is actually the two of us "winking" at our favorite lady.

The Faith of a Child

2007-05-26T14:58:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a hard day around the Upton home, but Maxwell made the ending to a hard day just wonderful. Here was his prayer.

"Lord Jesus, help us rest good tonight. Help us have a baby...a baby sister; and help us not cry when we don't have a baby sister or baby brother. In Jesus' name, amen."

I guess you now know why it was a hard day yesterday. Anyone who says that infertility is easier when you already have a child hasn't been down this road. It wasn't easy the first time and it isn't easy this time. Here is my (Matt) prayer:

Lord, thank you for Maxwell and his faith. Give us the faith of a child that we may rest knowing that you will carry us through.