ABQ Photo Drop

Here are the rest of the fun pictures from our trip to Albuquerque.

A cousin trip to the zoo....

Visiting the Great-Grandparents

Hot Air Balloons!

Backyard Fun!

Baby Ben's First Birthday

The kids and I just got back from a nice trip to Albuquerque to celebrate Benjamin's first birthday.  First birthdays are just so special (especially for the first kid), and we loved getting to be a part of it with Michael and Tiffany.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENJAMIN!  We love you!

September Photo Drop

Luke on his first night of Puggles, which is part of the Awana Program

Abby dressed like a ballerina princess helping Mommy clean the windows

My friend, Tricia, and two of her three kids came to visit.  Here is the line up of kids on the couch for book reading time before bed.  Wow, things have changed since Tricia and I were college roomies!

Here are two random pictures of Abby.  She is my little model.  The boys want nothing to do with coming out to take pictures.  I actually had my lens sent in and adjusted, so I was trying it out to see if it is working better.  The jury is still out on that one.  But, isn't Abby lovely in her new fall dress?

Lastly, after Dad died and I had attached the idea of butterflies to my mom, I needed something for him.  I thought of ladybugs and then began finding them all over the yard.  I have seen more ladybugs in the last 9 months than ever before in my life!  It always puts a smile on my face to see one!

Abby's First Homework

Abby, my little student, had her first homework assignment.  It was an All About Me page, and she had a blast working on it with me.  I tried to let her do most of the work.

This part reads, "I love pizza, my dog, cake, ponies, paint, and pink."  That is a pretty good description of our girl!

Abby's First Day of Ballet

Abby and Jon have been having little ballet lessons for the past six months.  Jon had to take a dance class at Baylor as part of his PE degree, so he knew some of the moves.  Between that and You Tube videos, he had a nice little set of skills taught to Abby.  They were so precious to watch.

Abby started her first "real" ballet class last week.  She had looked forward to it all summer but was really nervous on the first day.

The report after the class was that she loves it.  She has some new moves to show us and just loves to show them off for the family.  When she grows up she now wants to be a princess ballerina teacher.  We are excited about our little ballerina!

Sprinkler Time

These two had the best time playing in the sprinklers one Saturday morning.  They laughed and ran and got thoroughly soaked.

The other two Capron kiddos weren't quite up for sprinklers yet, so they stood on the porch with their stuffed animals and watched.

I don't know which pictures I like more- the ones of Caleb and Jon cracking up or the ones of Abby and  Luke looking on with such fear and hesitation!  One thing is for sure, the camera certainly captured the moment!

My Mom, The Butterfly

God did something special for me this summer.  He gave me the opportunity to watch some herb-garden-invading caterpillars eat their way through a ton of parsley, transform into chrysalis, and then emerge as the most wonderful butterflies.  It was completely amazing.  I found myself googling Black Swallowtail Caterpillars and reading up on each stage of their development.  I became obsessed with recognizing and checking off each step in their life cycle.  I learned many amazing and interesting facts about these types of butterflies.

I believe that God has put many things into nature that are to be an analogy of Himself and of spiritual truths.  In fact I have felt a special connection to butterflies for about three years now.

It was the fall of 2010 when we first found out that my mom had terminal cancer.  I felt myself entering into a state of shock and bewilderment.  How could life be changing so drastically, tragically, and quickly?

 

One morning soon after the news, Jon and I went on a walk with the kids on some trails near the lake.  We began to see many lovely butterflies flying around, and I felt God putting an analogy into my mind between my mom and those butterflies.  I considered the stages that each of those butterflies had been through to get to their beautiful flying and soaring state.  They were creatures that started as caterpillars who spent their time eating and crawling around low to the ground.  They had no idea of what was to come.  They just ate and ate and ate.  In my analogy those caterpillars are us.  We live on this earth and do our work and enjoy our lives, but we often don't understand that life in our current state is not all that God has planned for us.

 

With a terminal diagnosis, Mom was in a new stage of her life.  From an earthly standpoint, her life was ending.  Her body was going through the process of dying, but from a heavenly standpoint she wasn't dying at all.  Her current body was to die, but her soul was about to be changed drastically and quickly into a new creation.  Just like caterpillars enter into a cocoon when they are preparing to become butterflies, my mom had entered into this new cocoon stage, and with it came a new mindset. 

From the moment she found out she was going to die, mom's focus was entirely on God.  Things of the earth weren't important to her anymore.  She didn't watch TV or read fiction books like she had before her sickness.   She had an instant acceptance of what was to come.  In fact, on the very day that she received the awful diagnosis, she spent time comforting her doctor who was in tears about the situation.  The doctor did not seem to have an understanding of salvation, but my mom explained to her that she because of her faith in Christ, she would leave this life and be in heaven.

 

2 Corinthians 5:8 reads, "We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord."  Mom understood this and lived it out.  She found such joy, peace, and excitement in reading scripture.  She was often showing me a specific verse about heaven.  I look back and see this as an enormous blessing.  However at the time, I was frustrated by it and didn't understand how my mom could be so accepting of everything.  In fact with her focus on heaven, I saw her love and devotion and obsession for her grand-kids fade a bit.  We were still all extremely loved by her, but her heart was moving to a different focus.  That was a painful realization for me.  Things of this earth just didn't matter to her like they did before.  Now I can see that God had put her in a special place of communion with Him.  It really was such a gift that He gave to her so that she didn't have fight the realization of death being imminent.  She had fully accepted what was to come, and she was free to prepare for it.  Those of us who were caterpillars could not understand what was happening to the creature within the cocoon, but her Maker was doing something big.  God was working to complete His creation.

Mom left her earthy body on December 27, 2010.  She left the pain of this world and went straight into the arms of  Christ.  2 Corinthians 5:17-18 describe it this way, "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!"  This new creation happens at the moment that Christ comes into our hearts.  Christ paid that price for our sins, and we accept that gift.  His sacrifice and our acceptance seal our souls for any eternity in Heaven with our God.  Mom's destiny was determined when she asked Christ in her life as a young adult, and God's plan for her life was completed when she left this earth and entered Heaven.  Just as a caterpillar is destined to become a butterfly, God's plan for mom's life was fulfilled.  

Every afternoon this summer, a lovely black and yellow butterfly has flown by our playroom window.  It always make me think of my mom.  I like to think she is somewhat aware of what we are doing here on earth.  So much has changed in the past three years, and I would love to hear her thoughts on each of my kids and what they are up to these days.  Really I don't know how all of that works.  They are nice thoughts, but I don't really think that each butterfly represents a little window of time when mom is looking down watching us.  More than anything those butterflies are a reminder of the promise of what is to come.  Someday I will be reunited with my mom and dad and with our Savior.  It will be a glorious day.  Then we will understand that life on this earth is only a shadow of what life will be someday.  All things will be made new and complete!

2 Corinthians 5:20-21
"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

Caleb's First Day of First Grade

This next one is Caleb with his Schultüte, which Jon was adamant and excited about making for him.  Jon remembers getting his when he started first grade while living in Germany.