As previously promised

I wrote a few days ago about how Molly loves the animal sounds book. Here is the previously promised video. Matthew chimes in at the end. See another version here.

Economic perspective

If you have been worried about the economy (I mean if you haven't been under a rock for the past two weeks) you should check out this article from Christianity Today by Dave Ramsey. As always, he offers a cool-headed perspective on the times.

End of September Update

Life is good right now at the Gammons' house. We have much to be thankful for. I'll share a few highlights.
Matthew and I went out for breakfast for his birthday. Matthew is growing into such a nice person. Three has been a difficult year for both of his brothers, but I am not sure if we will have a similar time with Matthew. I so enjoyed my time with him. How could I not? (See picture below.)The other highlight of the last week has been Caleb's conquering of his fear of riding his bike! Caleb was very nervous about learning to ride. He didn't want to fall. My mantra with him while we struggled together was, "Caleb, I want you to do the hard thing." I didn't care if he learned to ride a bike or not. I just did not want him to give in to his fears. Yesterday when I got home from work, he was so excited to show me what he and Amanda had done. I am so glad that Amanda and I are on the same page about things like this. I know some moms would just baby their boys. Not Amanda, she jumped right in there and worked with him for two hours. But Caleb was the one to do it. I am proud of him. Now we have two bike riders. Two to go.


See more pictures here.

Hymn of the Week--I Will Sing of My Redeemer

Last week, this hymn came on the iPod and Matthew looked at me and said, "I like this song, Daddy." I knew it needed to be this week's Hymn of the Week. We have been enjoying it. It may need to go for a couple of weeks though for us to get it down pat.

Hymn of the Week
I Will Sing of My Redeemer

Words by Phillip P. Bliss
Music by George Stebbins

I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His wondrous love to me;
On the cruel cross He suffered,
From the curse to set me free.

Refrain

Sing, oh sing, of my Redeemer,
With His blood, He purchased me.
On the cross, He sealed my pardon,
Paid the debt, and made me free.

NoiseTrade

Fair trade music? That is what these artists are purporting. If you go to NoiseTrade.com, you can see a list of artists that are "giving" away their music. You can download the music by either sending a message about the music to 5 e-mail addresses or by paying any price you want. I have downloaded three albums (Sorry to those who have gotten the e-mails.) There doesn't seem to be any catch.

The group of artists is headed by by Derek Webb, formerly of Caedmon's Call. He has given away his music before in other formats. I am not a huge fan of his music but I love his philosophy of art and music. The one album that I have really enjoyed from NoiseTrade is Kate York's Sadly Love. I had heard some of her music before and enjoyed it. You should definitely give it a try. Listen below.

Introverts and Extroverts

Last week I pointed out to Amanda that we definitely have both introverts and extroverts in our family. On that day, Molly was sitting on her play table playing with her doll house, Ben was his bedroom playing Lego and Caleb and Matthew were hanging out together. Caleb hates playing Lego by himself. He is always asking Ben to come and play with him. Caleb is definitely our extrovert and I think Matthew is as well. They both really enjoy being with people. Ben and Molly really need their alone time. It will be interesting to see how these personality differences develop throughout the years.

Happy Birthday, Matthew!

When Matthew was born I remember wondering how he would fit into our family. We already had these two crazy fun characters and I wondered just who this new little person would be. Matthew has been such a gift to our family. He is completely different from his two brothers (no surprise.) He is very tender and compassionate. He tells Amanda and me that he loves us a lot. He loves to cuddle Molly. He also LOVES sports and balls. He is going to be our athlete. When we asked him what he wanted for his birthday he said a football and chapstick. When he saw the jersey that we gave him (above) he was very pleased. He wore it Saturday and he had to wear it yesterday when the Vikings played. We had a great weekend celebrating the boys' birthdays. You can see the photos here.