A Day in the Life of Addison Scarlett Taylor

Wide awake at 7 am ready for a great Saturday. I feel it is important to start may day with a smile-every day.

7:05 Freedom! The moment I gets out of the swaddle, I need to stretch and stretch and stretch.

7:10 After we are all dressed, we have to go say hello to the furry siblings. They tickle my feet.

7:15 No morning is complete without a kiss from Daddy.

7:16 Yummmmmm.

8:00 I am not a big fan of tummy time but Mom and Dad insist that it is necessary for my growth and development. I try my best for about 10 minutes then I break down and cry.

8:10 Getting a clothing change is MY FAVORITE! I laugh when the clothes are pulled over my head. I think this is my favorite time of day so I spit up often so that I can spend more time here.

8:15 Thank goodness Daddy picked out a blue outfit, it makes my blue eyes stand out.

8:30 No day is complete without a conversation in the bouncer.  I get tired of laying around and need to sit up once in a while. I hang out in Daddy's office while Mommy gets ready for the day.

9:00 I've been waiting to get big enough to be carried in the front pack. I have another inch to go before it fits perfect, but for now I don't mind chewing on the fabric. After all, it is the best way to travel.

9:20 The bank is BORING!

10:00 After a walk back home from the bank, my mid-morning shut eye in the swing was in order.

11:30 An hour nap was just the ticket. The binkie is nice, but my fingers are delicious. One of these days I will be a thumb sucker but I can't quite figure that out yet.

12:00 Nothing like another 7 oz bottle when I wake up around noon!

1:00 Costco is not my favorite place. If you want to babysit next time Mom goes to the story I would be much obliged. However, I did get another good nap about 10 minutes after this picture.

3:00 Now this is tummy time I like. Daddy gives me some special attention after I get back from Costco. Can you tell I love my Daddy?

3:30 Story time from the Bible is important. Never neglect your education or your faith, I always say.

4:00 Play time, a walk, the bank, lunch, Costco, tummy time, Bible reading...whew, I am wiped out.

6:30 Finally it is dinner time. Daddy made Mommy steaks! She sure is spoiled. I talked to the ceiling fan through the whole dinner

8:00 What is a day without desert and friends. Adrian fed me and burped me...he is definitely on my top 10 list.

9:30 I can't go to bed without a debriefing on my day to my Winnie the Pooh mobile. The whole gang knows how to listen.

Leaving a Legacy

My great-grandpa Goodner made me a doll cradle when I was perhaps 5 or 6 years old. Today it is worn out, doesn't stand up well and is dirty, but now is when I see its greatest beauty. Despite all of its use when I was young, it means more to me now than ever. Now I understand its history.

My great-grandpa was a man who had always worked with his hands. He was strong. When he gave me this present, however, he was in tears. I remember this clearly but at that age wasn't able to understand why. I received it awkwardly and with little to no thanks. I barely knew him. My mother had explained to me that he had had a stroke and was no longer able to speak. He wanted to give me something special but was unable to communicate to me the love behind it. He was only able to pass it over with a nod of his head and frustrated tears.

I never saw my great-grandpa again.

I was the end of his legacy...the last that he would be able to see and tangibly influence. I keep that doll cradle now as a remembrance of him. I doubt that Addison will ever be able to play with it because of its condition, but perhaps as an adult she will understand that it was crafted by her ancestor. His story is not just about making a doll cradle after having a stroke, it is about what all of us desire deep down...leaving a legacy.

Great-grandpa Goodner left a more lasting legacy, one I hope to leave for Addison. He grew up a half-Cherokee on a farm in Oklahoma several miles from any local town. One day, as a child, he rode his donkey (yes, a donkey) to the church. He rode alone. He chose on his own to follow God with no regard to his parents disinterest. A child coming to the feet of Jesus in a place that probably wasn't that interested in a half-breed poor kid.

That is his legacy. He loved God and his love has passed down to the third and fourth generation!

Deuteronomy 7:9 (NIV)Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.

Jason and I have been reading a book called Sacred Parenting by Gary Thomas that has shifted something in our hearts about what is important (in parenting and life) and what isn't. Of course, we want to provide Addison with the "American Dream" but in 100 years will that really matter? It has only been 30 years since I received that cradle and my great-grandpa has all but passed out of human memory. I don't know how nice his house was or whether or not he wore fashionable clothes, but I do know that he loved God and he loved his children. Even if I didn't know that from experience, I would know it by the legacy of love that has been passed down.

I tend to think of good parenting as giving Addison a nice life of "things": car when she is of driving age, European vacations, new clothes, good education, beautiful home. But those things don't last! If I want to leave a legacy then I have to think about the intangible: sacrifice, love, patience, kindness, humility, listening heart. The only way that I can give those to Addison is to be them myself. Then in 100 years when no one know who I was, the sacrifice, love, patience, kindness, humility, etc... will still survive.

I want to leave her with Matthew 619-21.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

No one can steal that legacy.