Tim Reed Family of 5

It's hard to believe that 6 1/2 years ago Tim and I were just beginning our lives together.  Oh how things have changed over those past six years, and we realize more and more all the time just how blessed we truly are.  We are grateful to the Lord for the wonderful marriage He has given us, which just keeps getting better all the time!!  :)  And we absolutely love being parents and training our children in the Lord.  Hannah, Lauren, and Timmy are all precious gifts that we treasure.  Psalm 127:3, "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD and the fruit of the womb is his reward." We do not know what tomorrow may bring, but we do know that our hope and our faith are fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ.  He alone may we always trust and obey.

Timmy is 9 weeks old

Oh how fast our little boy is growing.  He is smiling and cooing a lot now and can follow us with his eyes.  He is looking more and more like his Daddy all the time, which makes me very happy.  

When mom's away...

Mommy just completed a 6-week women's Bible study on Monday nights.
This past Monday she stayed later than usual, and when she finally called home to say that she was on her way it was 10:18 PM and it was a 40 minute ride home. She certainly didn't expect to hear what she did when I picked up the phone. You see, I had taken advantage of the sun going down earlier these days to put the kids down to bed at an early hour - 6:45, very early considering they usually go down after 8:00. They went down without a fuss. Lauren, however, had been developing a stuffy nose and cold, likely from the nursery at church the previous day. By 10:00 PM and many visits later, to Lauren, that is, she finally broke down and wept openly.
I went to find her, hold her and pray with her. Hannah was awake, and while she got up to go potty Lauren sat crying on the bathroom counter while I put vapor rub on her. Lauren crying in my ear wasn't enough noise so little Timmy decided to join the fun and announce his awakening.
I told Hannah that she definitely needed to go to sleep because she had skipped her nap and... "Hannah, sweetie, you really need to go to sleep because you know what happens when you don't sleep enough?.... yeah! that's right... you get "crampies" in your legs.  So she obediently got in bed.
Lauren needed me so I told her she could come with me but..."Lauren, baby doll, you can come with me but as you can hear, Timmy needs me to get him and feed him, so you can sit next to me OK?" She understood and cam along.
Walking out of the room with Lauren's little hand in mind, I looked back into the girls' dimly lit room and I saw Hannah sitting up waiting for us to leave and I thought 'why not?' "Hannah.. you wanna come join us?" Certainly she did and came along.
We rescued Timmy from his crib. He had taken a really long nap. We marched downstairs and while he ate we talked. We conversed and extensively explored the concept of Lauren being sick and how it was important for her to cover her mouth and not to "bless you" (sneeze) on Timmy or Papa or Hannah. We also explained how her "sickies" were contagious and that they couldn't play with the same toys for the next few days because Lauren might give her "sickies" to Hannah. It was priceless to watch their little minds ponder, grasp, comprehend and interact with the concept at hand.
That is when Mama called and heard more than just me. We all took turns talking to her but we "of course" determined that Lauren was to be the last person to use Papa's cell phone so that she wouldn't pass her "sickies" on to someone else. She would then be responsible to wipe Papa's phone down with a wipe (they love being assigned meaningful tasks). So after we all talked to Mama I took the phone from Lauren to close and they both yelled "Nooooo!" They were genuinely worried about me and I picked it up by its antenna and said "see ya soon!" To reassure them I demonstrated how I was holding the phone by the antenna and they were relieved.
So, while we waited for Mama to get home we just stayed up and had a good time as you can see in the pictures :)

Lauren sings on stage (Age 2/half)

How fun!
I (Tim) sing on the worship team at church every other Sunday (approx.). This past Sunday, while we were finishing up the morning practice before the service I invited Lauren to come with me. She is usually quite shy with anyone she doesn't know, especially men. I held her up to a microphone and told her to quote a verse. She did and enjoyed hearing herself through the monitor. Perhaps 15 people began to pay attention to the little girl on stage quote scripture verses and sing songs. For those of you who haven't met Lauren or at least seen her lately, she can speak really well for her age and she has the cutest little lisp in her speech. She liked it so much that I eventually put her down on the floor and brought the microphone down to her level. She quoted a verse or sang a song and then walked a few steps toward me and said "can I do another one?"
I would say about 30+ people ended up hearing her.
"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you"
"A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones"
"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it"
"Do everything without complaining and arguing so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God"
"Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right"
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"
"The Joy of the Lord is my strength"
"God is Love"
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
All of these, by the way, are spoken. They know these and many more in song form.
I brought a mic. down to Hannah's level too but she decided to wait till another time. Anyway, the pastor came by and said: "That is so precious, do you think she could do it during the preaching?" I told him I'd try. When the worship part of the service was over I went back to the nursery in search for Lauren. She agreed to do it so I brought her before the congregation. She was very cool about it but when our actual moment came, she froze in the silence and stage lights. She was brave to try :) It was a lot of fun while it lasted and Hannah was an excellent sport about it too, being very proud (and not jealous) of her little sister.

Cowboys and Cowgirls

All five of us now have cowboy hats. So, though we do not celebrate Halloween, we did dress our cuties up in their cowboy and cowgirl attire for a little parade in our neighborhood. Now we can dress appropriately for all of our fires at our backyard fire pit that we are enjoying so much!