Our Christmas Letter!

Three Trick or Treaters! Anakin, Dr. Lawrence, and Boy Wonder!

Merry Christmas, Darien!

Well, it's hard to believe that this year has again flown by the way our folks always said they would with little ones. The days are long and the years too short. I am amazed at God's goodness and feel so blessed with our three healthy and beautiful children! The year has been filled with homework and playdates and a baby that nursed almost a year longer than my plan. God has certainly been at work allowing me the many challenges of parenting and yet the many joys of being a friend and finding that as one of the greatest ministries I could ever chose for myself. We are endlessly training our children to fight against feeling entitled to things that others in this community have and we work diligently to create a life that reflects inner peace.

AJ has taken a preference to being called Alyssa in school these last two years and yet to our friends,' the Bailey family where each member has a "J" names (Jesse, Jennifer...etc), she is "JAEL" only! So, as in keeping with the Lawrence traditions, our daughter has a dozen little names...as do the boys! Anyway, AJ has read over 80 chapter books in this past year, 50 of them in just the past 2.5 months! She continues to dance with Daughters of Destiny at our church and performed a lovely number as a angel to the song "Who Could Imagine a King", sung by Whitney Houston on The Preacher's Wife soundtrack. She enjoys playdates with friends and neighbors. She had a tremendously fun summer at the pool again! She delights us with her desire to learn more about God (loves to be read to from her Study Bible) and she is working hard to remember daily chores and what it means to contribute to helping around the house. She always looks for opportunities to bless me by cleaning up when not asked. She loves her new room and is excellent at keeping it very tidy!

Keenan-- oh Keenan...the little bundle of joy that has grown into such a big boy! He still melts my heart every time I gaze into those big blue eyes. He drives me crazy most days, but thank GOD that he is just so charming! He struggles to get along with Darien most days but the love between them is evident even so. He loves school...and the same little girl since first day of school last year Amanda! He loves Super Hero shows...all of them...The Batman, Batman Brave and the Bold, Superhero Squad, The X-men, GI Joe, and Transformers! If ever there was a #1 superhero fan, it is our boy Keenan! He has this precious little blue baby blanket that is super soft that he loves to pretend is his Batman cape! Accompanying his cape obsession, is his love of making pretend weapons--you can find him sporting some kind of plastic utensil he has fashioned as a sword or, of course, his famed light sabres. Darien and Alyssa play along with him too. Could we have afforded all the costumes, we would have made a stunning Stars Wars clan at Halloween. As it was, Keenan was the handsomest little Anakin Skywalker out there! Just can't say enough about how blessed we are with him...just hope we can make it through the year of FOUR....aka- the year of establishing BOUNDARIES...cause man he likes to push us!

Darien, our sweet, almost 2-year old won't let momma out of his sights without a pretty big fuss. God just knew I needed one more doting boy to fill my little love tank. Church and getting out as a couple are difficult tasks for us right now because of Darien's needs but we know he will be able to work through what I title as Intense Separation Anxiety soon...(please Lord, soon!) Needless to say, Darien keeps us busy. So what if our home is not as clean as it once was. One of these days, everyone will be in school and I can take up my obsessive cleaning habits again. For now, we obsess over Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Special Agent Oso, playdates with his many friends and the book Llama lama red pajama...which at one point I think I read to him 20 times in one day! Age appropriate toys are a thing of the past. Light sabres and golf clubs are the toys of choice. We are all lucky if we don't get out foreheads bashed in at least once a day before I confiscate the toys I thought I had hidden well enough! Had to go with this blog background because he is obsessed with Santa right now and is so funny when he imitates "HO, HO, HO!" I will have to get a video of that to post soon!

So, what have Don and I been up to? Well, a client here and there for me-more would be nice, but just not always enough hours in the day. My work is always rewarding and fulfilling when I get an opportunity and I am thankful the God sends me such wonderful folks to work with. I am still involved in a playgroup for Darien and participate in some MOPS events as well. I have lots of great friends out here but just never the time to really get the amount of girls night out time I would really like. And Don...well, he's the Super Employee, Teacher, Student (still plugging away at the Doctoral Program), Husband and Father of the year. Don't really know how he does it all but we are making efforts to strike a balance of some sort. I imagine right when we finally feel that we have a handle on it, something else will be added or changed! Blessed are the Adapatable is the new Beattitude in our home--because we have surely done our fair share of major changes, moves, and tranisitions in our almost ten years of marriage! That's right, this May 27, 2010...we will reach our 10 year Anniversary mark! Thanks to those who have prayed us thru the "for better, or for worse!"

OK, so I know I have taken enough of your time, but I came across this Christmas Devotional by oneof my favorite spiritual leaders. I'd like to end close our letter with some insight from his book, Follow the Star.

I found it interesting to think about the Bethlehem star in this way as Jakes puts so eloquently. He recounts a story of when he was a small boy in his mother's Kindergarten class and he asked why God made stars and she wisely replied that "He knew it would get dark sometimes and when it did, you would need a night-light."

There have been too many times in life when I have needed a night-light and though real stars may not have five points (like the ones we help our children draw and put atop our tree) these five names in the scripture below have helped me see the light on a dark night.

The Bethlehem star can point us to these five names describing Jesus in Isaiah 9:6 "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

"I hope you'll take a moment this Christmas to gaze upon Jesus and let yourself be filled with wonder. I hope you'll seek the advice of the Counselor and experience the power of the Mighty God. I hope you'll know Him intimately as your Everlasting Father and that His reign of Peace will rest upon you and your household this holiday season. If it gets dark at any time throughout the coming year, remember that God always turns the night-light for His children!"

Yes, Darien looks like Keenan but he looks like his Daddy so much too!

AJ's first day of 3rd grade with an attempt at straight hair on a way too hot August day!

Keenan's first day of preschool...year #2

Chillaxing...as AJ calls it!

Keenan's Birthday Party!

Well, a week after a super fun birthday at Disney, Keenan celebrated with friends at a nearby park for his "superhero, transformers, Star Wars'' party! That's what the cake says..."Happy Birthday to our Superhero, Transformers, Star Wars fan!" We couldn't make him decide on which character was his favorite! Really, he is "into" so many cool boy things...but AJ plays right along! Anyway, he had so much fun on the hottest, craziest day at the park. Don wasn't feeling great, Darien was major fussy and I felt as unorganized as I have ever been! But, alas, he didn't have a clue that poor his poor mamma felt out of her mind in the heat and stress! He had a blast and so did all his buddies. We had such a great turnout of his neighborhood friends and preschool buddies! Favorite toys that he opened at the park ( not in my plan...but he wasn't going to be persuaded otherwise!) were Bumblebee, Bakugan, and a book about Dex the Superhero Dog. And of course he got some great cars from his Pre-school girlfriend and a major favorite superhero shirt from the first little friend he made when we moved here! Keenan is so blessed and we were as well by the parents who braved the heat and the crazy valet parking that silly private school had for their event on the same day as our party...(you had to be there, but it was just so funny!) Keenan was celebrated well this year...this kid will not ever have the middle child syndrome, if we can help it! We are doing everything we can to make sure he feels super duper loved! PS...Kudos to my friend Jen who took these photos since I was so totally out of it that day! I would have just cried had she and her family not showed up just in time to get all the photos and videos of opening presents since Darien wouldn't let me out of his sight for a second!

A whole sheet of cake...we Lawrence's...we like our cake!

Daddy, I really just like giving only Mommy

a hard time...ugh!

Keenan and Jen's son Justus...a sweet family we are bonded with from our church...we are like sisters and our kids are like cousins!

A happier boy there could not have been that day!

Keenan and his big brother neighbor boy named Kyle!

A rare portrait of just the three of us! So glad Jen captured this!

Digging into the Bumblebee toy that every kid

wanted while buddy Austin looks on!

Keenan's 4th Birthday!

Our sweet son, Keenan turned 4 on September 19th and with the free on your birthday special going on just this year at Disneyland, we again took advantage of this neat opportunity. Don had such a blessed and wonderful time with Keenan for his first ever visit to see Mickey Mouse and even better was the opportunity he got to be a part of the Jedi Training Academy. He is such a huge Star Wars fan that we knew he was going to flip at the chance to see Darth Vader and portray a real Jedi! Thanks to Grammy Shirley and Papa Donald for making it possible for Don to make Keenan's special day at Disney happen. Eventually we'll make it there as a family, but the experience I had with AJ and Don had with Keenan was the rare one-on-one time these children in a family of 5 get!

Catching up ...AJ turned 8!

I feel so badly to have been away so long from blogging, but wanted to catch up a bit before jumping to the present.


AJ turned 8 this past July 20th and I took her to Disney...only her second time there and mine too. It was free on your birthday this year only. We had a blast and went on every ride we could, some even twice, especially Space Mountain, which was her favorite. We stayed til almost midnight and were absolutely exhausted from such a wonderful day away from our boys. It had been a scorching hot day but we stayed cool enough in some shady spots and just trekked on since we wanted to make the most of a rare day to ourselves! A favorite moment for her was during the fireworks where the show is done to some favorite Disney tunes and Baby Mine from Dumbo was played and I held her and she cried since it brought her back to when I would sing that to her when she was just two. So many really great moments but that was a highlight for both of us and we needed that time away. Just weeks before her bday, we hosted a small, but busy bday bash at the pool and a sleepover! She was really excited to host her friends and there was no drama at all! I prayed very specifically about that! The theme this year was High School Musical Three and after swimming, eating pizza and cake, decorating my patio with chalk art creations, going for a late night swim, and getting ready for bed, they stayed awake til 1115 when HSM3 ended. They were wiped out! I told them if they were all asleep in 15 minutes there would be a surprise for them! They were thrilled with a pancake breakfast and spent the morning making jewelry and forts, wishing the day wouldn't end. She was such a happy girl! Who needs fancy Calabasas spa parties when your mom is the party queen?!

Tribute to a Father...

Father's Day is always tricky for me. How do I find a way to bless my husband, father to the three most beautiful children I've ever seen?! I realized this year that what I really wanted for Mother's Day is what he should be able to have for Father's Day. And I griped about it when he made the plans to take care of it himself, when really I wished I had the initiative to go ahead and plan it for him myself. I heard a friend detail her ideal Mother's Day Weekend...Friday night in a hotel by herself, Saturday spent alone by the pool or shopping with friends and Saturday night back at home ready for breakfast served in bed by her kids on Sunday morning. Alas, I relinquish that this too is my dream. Albeit, it's not that easy to get away from a baby I am close to weaning but wasn't that close this past Mother's Day. Anyhow, I need to say that Don is all about golf, so why should I make him feel badly when he wants to spend Friday and Saturday morning golfing with friends on Father's Day weekend? I should be grateful to God that He has blessed my hubby with great men to be around, a hobby that promotes exercise and that he essentially finds ways to get to do for little cost. So, this is a tribute to my husband...

You are a daddy who is trying so hard to provide and I applaud you publicly and lift you up for many to see the honor you deserve. The grace in which God will give me as we live out these next three years of this doctoral program WILL be sufficient for me and I commit to being a helper to you, to think of your needs before my own, to wear the smile that won your heart and not the sorrow that can so easily consume me. I could not say it better than our Pastor has...he knows no one who is doing what you are doing...full time job, student, husband, and father to three in one of the expensive but most beautiful places on earth! But we commit anew to do this in God's strength not our own that the life that we are living and the future He has in store for us will only serve to be a great testimony to our God that we receive nothing but by faith, that promotion comes only from Him, that blessed are the poor, that no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly, that He who promised is faithful, and that His grace will be sufficient for us. You are a man to be admired by all who know you. You are a rare and priceless gift to this generation. You have a high calling and I again am humbled to be the woman to pray you through this and...to kick your butt when it needs it! I am your biggest fan and you are my only hero! So, let it be known throughout the land, that Queen Trina bids King Donald the grandest of Father's Day Wishes, the most heartfelt of Father's Day prayers and the most passionate commitment to love, honor, and respect you throughout this new year with God's love and not just my own. I love you.

A Manageable Amount of Stuff

As a professional organizer, I have come face to face with the state of our culture and the ill effects it has had on so many mothers in the area of managing our households. We are bombarded with so much variety for our kids in regards to toys and then there are the amazing deals we find at Target that even if we have plenty of cute clothes already for our kids, we buy more just to boast of the deals we scored! I ask you though, what is a manageable amount of stuff? Think back to the "olden days" as AJ calls them...really do we think they had toy rooms piled with 8 years of toys and stockpiles of garments that could clothe an army of children? Really, I don't believe it is God's desire that moms have this much stuff to manage, do you? I can't say that I don't enjoy the convenience of modern times, but even though we don't have money to buy our kids every toy their little heart desires, I still say there is no way that I would want to have as much as some mommas house in their kids playrooms, bedrooms, and garages. So what is manageable for me, you ask? A few boxes of cars for Keenan, some flashlights, some dress up clothes, two small bins of Legos, some ride-on toys, an organized shelf of books, a trunk neatly packed with games, crayons and coloring books, and a cabinet that neatly houses two very small shelves with less than a dozen toys for the littlest one. AJ has a dress up bin that she is ready to get rid of but I think the classic Disney dresses in there are something we will save for her children, along with a few special dolls, baby blankets, baby outfits and stuffed loveys. Other than that she has some clothes and some jewelry. She loves to write and swim. I am thankful that Barbies really never caught on with all that much enthusiam and the craft hobby is limited to what I can handle...simple oil pastels that she loves to create magnificient and no mess masterpieces! Maybe other moms are not bothered by the plethura of things out there to amuse a child, but I can tell you as a mom of three, what my kids love... attention from me, going to the park and swimming endless hours at the pool without tons of excessively useless pool toys! I guess you could say, I really do like to travel light and can't wait to get to Heaven where nothing has to come with me,

Zerbert Therapy

So a couple of days ago, I was playing on the floor with Darien. No other kids were home and none of them have ever done this to me. He lifted up my shirt just a bit and planted some loud, juicy zerberts on my tummy! I was cracking up! It was so unpracticed and spontaneous! What a neat way for him to show his love for me! He and Keenan decided that today it would be good to gang up on mom and do double duty on the slobbery fart sounding zerberts! So, thus my title, I received my own healing spa treatment...zerbert therapy! No hefty price, no sticky lotions and smells...just pure, unadulterated spitty love from my little boyfriends! Priceless...let me tell you! I am healed...body, soul and spirit from the love of these little sweethearts!

On another note, AJ had her first audition the other day and it went well. Alas, not hearing from them yet, I gather she did not land this one, but she had fun, it was easy parking, did not take a huge chunk of my day and we got the first one under our belt! Prayers for lots more...her agency says she will have tons more opportunities!

Summer vacation is almost upon us and my mom will be returning for the month of July to help me with the kids while I hopefully land a few more deals with clients. We look forward to celebrating AJ's 8th birthday with a pool party and sleepover...I know, yes, I have pretty much lost my mind! But, poor sweetheart, we haven't had too many sleepovers here due to space and noise issues with wakeful baby D for the past year. SO, I had to give in here. I do hope the girls can find some peaceful things to do...I know I am probably setting myself up for disappointment there, right?!

Just wanted to say to those who read that I appreciate your comments and think it is so fun to keep in touch this way even though I just cannot seem to be quite as faithful as I always promise to be! I have always loved writing and journaling and truly do have every intention to use this as an outlet to yes, archive my kids special moments, but also to offer a moment of encouragement from time to time.

Look for some pics of the kids again soon...

With thoughts of many of you...

Trina The MOMMY!