...for she loved much.

Monumental

2011-07-06T19:33:00.002-06:00

This kid has come a long way...

Annual Camping

2011-07-01T20:12:00.006-06:00

Our annual Memorial Day weekend camping trip was a little wet and cold at first but warmed up nicely by the last day or so. We were thrilled to add our friends who just moved back from Taiwan to our posse. Since both other families have babies less than a year old, L could hardly contain herself with excitement!

Here she is with Baby N and Baby F...

And of course W and his buddy...

We went on our usual hike and the kids did fabulously. Even the babies on their daddy's backs in their little backpacks were troopers...

This part made me slightly nervous...

Such a blessing to share memories in our expanding families together...

Zoo

2011-07-01T19:44:00.005-06:00

W's end of year pre-school field trip was to the Scovill Zoo on a ridiculously hot day in May. Thankfully the kids didn't seem to notice the heat and enjoyed the day tremendously.

The train and the carousel were the main attractions...

And oh, you should have heard the snickering from the parents on this exhibit. W showed his sweet naivete when he shouted out..."Mom, look, the turtles are WRESTLING!!"

After the zoo we headed to Monical's for lunch. I showed MY naivete when I tried to snap a quick pic of three riled up preschool boys waiting for their pizza. Here's attempt 1:

And again...

And I finally gave up...

Training Wheel Milestone

2011-05-08T19:55:00.000-06:00

Look what this kid was up to this weekend...

And of course a little of this too...

Princess Party

2011-05-08T19:14:00.004-06:00

My sister-in-law and I took our girls to a Princess Party fundraiser at the High School this weekend. It was every little girl's dream come true. I seriously couldn't believe all the work these students went to!

L was just in heaven--she started asking me when we were going every 10 minutes about three days before the party so we made a countdown that helped appease her for a bit. Sometimes I worry about the whole "princess" phenomenon she's attached herself to but I couldn't help but be excited with her when I saw how custom fit this morning was for her taste.

She got to dress like her favorite princess so she wore a pink dress like Princess Aurora.

She wanted to wear all the same jewelry that mommy wore.

Making a tissue paper flower, one of many crafts she made.

Getting her nails painted...pink of course.

Getting a butterfly painted on her face

Playing pin the lips on the froggy.

Decorating and eating her confetti cupcake.

Just before the clock struck midnight.

Beautiful Nightmare

2011-04-22T20:08:00.006-06:00

There are some moments in life when one becomes frighteningly aware of how fiercely they love another person(s). I had one of those moments at 5:57 am this morning.

Last night Hubby and I watched Unstoppable, a great Denzel flick never lacking for suspense. When I went to bed my adrenaline was still pumping so I should have expected an interesting night.

I have no idea what time I started dreaming. I know they say you actually only dream for minutes or even seconds but it felt like my dream went on for an eternity.

I will spare the awful details of the nightmare but basically it all culminated in Stacy and I searching for two days straight in the wreckage of a building for our children. Yeah, it was horrifying.

We hadn't eaten, slept or had medical attention for our own cuts and bruises. Finally we found some kind of elevator that allowed us to get up to the fifth floor where we knew our children were. I got to L first but she didn't recognize me, was delirious, seeing things, having not eaten or slept herself for two days.

Stacy disappeared to continue looking for W. I scooped L up in my arms with tremendous relief and yet still agonizing fear of not having yet found W. At the same moment that I scooped her in my arms I woke up.

5:57 am. My pillow was wet from having cried in my sleep. At the same time that I felt relief in knowing it was just a dream, I tried instinctively to get back into the dream so I could find W. I couldn't sleep again, thank God, and although I knew Hubby's alarm would go off in three minutes I couldn't bear being alone in my surreal state so I woke him.

I sobbed as I recounted the dream to him and he gently shushed me and held me to comfort me back into reality.

It was in that moment that I realized how fiercely I love my children. Even though it was just a dream, I knew without a doubt that I absolutely would claw through burning wreckage to find my kids.

That I absolutely would go without food or water or sleep for days to get to them.

That I absolutely would enter that garish nightmare again if it meant I could find them and bring them to safety.

There are days when I wrongly take my children for granted. I tire of their incessant demands. I battle their disobedient ways. I forget how fantastic they are.

Today was not one of those days.

The beauty of my nightmare was realized today at 5:57 am and with a cloud lurking over my day, I lived today in an awareness that these precious lives have totally redefined my concept of love.

Circus!

2011-04-22T19:31:00.003-06:00

I have these great memories from my childhood of going to see the Gamma Phi Circus with my family. I was a young inexperienced gymnast totally enthralled by the amazing feats these performers/college kids could master (And just slightly freaked out by the clowns. OK, REALLY freaked out by the clowns.)

So ever since W was a baby I've been itching to take him but knew he wouldn't fully appreciate it until he was older. This was the first year I thought both kids could handle sitting still for that long (I might have been a bit optimistic with L yet.)

The show definitely did not disappoint and they have added so much cool stuff since I saw it some 25 years ago. Oh sheesh, that's a quarter of a century. Sigh...

W was totally captivated by every part. During one act when one of the girls was riding a unicycle across a tight wire he covered his eyes and said "I CAN'T WATCH!!" How does a five year old know to cover his eyes during an intensely suspenseful act?

He was clearly not listening though when the announcer warned children not to try these acts at home. That was the first thing he wanted to do with Daddy when he got home was to try out all the new tricks he had seen. Or maybe it was more Daddy who hadn't listened!

L was surprisingly attentive too. Except for about the last hour. Two and a half hours is a long time for even me to sit in one place! After the first act, a trampoline act, she got down from her seat and wanted to know when it was her turn to go down and give it a try.

We had a great time and are looking forward to trying it again in a couple years--maybe by then we'll have a gymnast or two of our own!

This is just awesome...

2011-04-15T13:39:00.001-06:00

This web site has a constant, live video feed of an eagle nest in Decorah, Iowa - complete with adult and baby eagles.

Live TV : Ustream

There are just some days...

2011-04-14T08:15:00.003-06:00

Return to Hearts at Home

2011-03-27T14:55:00.010-06:00

I haven't been to the Hearts at Home Conference for a couple years and it was good to get back! I met my long-time high school friends there and we had a blast.

Are those some hip moms or what? Let me just pause for a moment and explain something. Yes, if you look close you will see that is the same outfit I am wearing in the previous post. I actually considered not posting one of the pictures when I realized this. However, it is just an indication of the minimalist I am. I have one winter outfit that I feel great in, so I wear it a lot. Rather than omit the picture I decided to be authentic instead!

Now, on to the good stuff. Hearts at Home is always one of those conferences where before I go I don't really think I need to go. Then when I go I realize how VERY much I needed to go.

There wasn't a whole of lot of earth-shattering, new material for me this year. But the reminders I received that I am God's child; He made me and designed me especially to be W and L's mommy; and that His love covers all my inadequacies brought Revolution to my life.

Some specifics I intend to be more diligent about attacking are:

1. My tendency to speculate about what others think. Jennifer Rothschild...

was one of the main speakers. She is a firecracker speaker who lost her sight at age 15 and now teaches women across the country how to walk by faith, not by sight. She reminded me that speculating only leads to allowing yourself to entertain thoughts based on feeling, not fact. Being a natural born "feeler" makes me really bad about this sometimes. See above paragraph about my speculation that you would care or even notice that I am wearing the same outfit in both photos. Sheesh...sometimes my neurotic tendencies are JUST. TOO. MUCH. for even me. Anyhoo...

2. Patience, patience, patience. I'm also a natural born "fixer." So when my kids are struggling, I swoop in to do it for them rather than let them struggle things out. I need to get better about this.

3. Intentionally cultivate independence in my children by being patient, patient, patient. See number 2. Can you tell I need some help in the patience area?

The rest of the weekend was just bonus. A's hubby brought us my fave...

so we could avoid the dinner rush. Ingenious.

This Southern Belle was the comedian for Girls Night Out and I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt. Such an unassuming entertainer.

Then we stayed at A's house and the next day spent it eating, shopping and catching up on life as mommy's. (How do you spell mommy's? Mommies? Mommys? Is that even a word??)

And really, how better to top off a girl's weekend than some breakfast here...

and lunch here?!!...

Iowa Baby Shower

2011-03-27T14:15:00.006-06:00

I had the great opportunity to take a weekend trip in February to visit a close friend of mine for her baby shower. Thankfully another friend of mine went with me so we had the chance to catch up on the five hour drive which made the time pass so much more quickly.

We had dinner at the Sugar Shack, a 50's style diner with a great Patty Melt and yummy chocolate malt. I'm a sucker for a good malt. Mmmm....

We then headed back to our hotel...

and had a chance to catch up more with the mom-to-be.

The next morning we went to the shower, thrown by the mom-to-be's sister in law. I have to say I'm not sure I've ever been to a baby shower with that much attention to detail! It was so well done and an awesome celebration of this new little life that God created.

C was opening presents for and hour and a half! Can you tell they are stocked and ready for this precious one?! (And this is just a glimpse...)

Yes, this is the gift hubby and I got her. And yes that is a duplicate you see in the background of the EXACT. SAME. THING. Why do registries not really work? Anyway, is she cute or what?

It was a great weekend and I was so glad I got to spend some time with my friend before her life changes forever. It is almost certain that life changes forever when a baby enters the picture. But their story is unique.

Halfway through their pregnancy they discovered that their baby has a rare chromosomal disorder that will affect his health and development in some possibly significant ways. I have been absolutely amazed at the grace with which they received this news. Grieving certainly, but moving forward towards acceptance, determined to prepare themselves for whatever this new journey may bring.

That is love.

Here's a sneak peek at their precious little peanut...

10 Year Trip-Part 7

2011-02-02T15:17:00.005-06:00

OK, It is officially time to wrap up this post series. I had no idea it would take me this long to write a few silly posts. I guess when you add in Christmas and moving to the equation I can't be too hard on myself!

Our final day at sea was spent relaxing and planning mentally for the whirlwind of packing/closing/Christmas/moving that would await us when we returned home. Have I mentioned how serene the sunsets were?

The comedians on board were great and we spent our last evening enjoying some laughter in this lounge:

Dinner was delicious as always:

And of course a final farewell to our little friend:

Already looking forward to what we'll plan for celebrating Fifteen!

10 Year Trip-Part 6

2010-12-19T15:01:00.007-06:00

The next day was a stop at Cozumel so we had an early breakfast and headed onshore. We usually ate breakfast at the buffets because there was so much to choose from and the lines weren't that long. Here's Stacy below in one of the dining rooms enjoying his daily double dose of chocolate milk. Who says adults can't have chocolate milk, right?

Stacy had a work connection that gave us all kinds of tips and instructions for doing a cruise right. He ended up being more like a private tour guide and recommended a private day beach club in Cozumel called Nachi Cocom. There were probably never more than about 50 people there so it really felt like we got to enjoy our own private section of the beach and ocean.

The water was beautiful and while I was content to lay on the beach, Stacy did some exploring. He saw plenty of fish and even a little stingray which was enough to send me back up to the beach. The food was great, I finally got my Mexican fix, and I think I could have stayed there another couple days.

Any relaxation that was achieved that day, though, was pretty well erased when we were on our way back to the ship and our realtor texted us to tell us we had gotten an offer on our house that we were trying to sell. The rest of the evening was spent communicating with her and negotiating a contract on our house. Communication on board the ship was tricky but we managed to pull it off and by noon the next day had sold our house from the middle of the Gulf of Mexico! Not a bad way to end a vacation!

10 Year Trip-Part 5

2010-12-10T21:14:00.006-06:00

We stopped at Progreso, Mexico for the second full day on board. The Carnival Ecstasy docked for the day as well so here's a shot of the two ships side by side. The Pier was a five mile bus ride away from the city, on which our bus got a flat tire. When he just kept driving on the flat we realized why the buses look in the condition they do!

We took a bus tour when we got to the city. Not a super impressive city but shopping and bargaining in the market was fun. Below is one of the "nicest" homes in the city. They call it the "Wedding Cake House" because of it's tiers and latticework.

There were lots of places along the beach to stop for drinks or food so we stopped at this little beach side restaurant for a drink before heading back to the boat.

Back on the boat, every night the dining staff does a different song and dance about halfway through the meal. If they aren't enjoying themselves, they do a very good job faking it! The cruise staff was mostly from different countries, Indonesia, Philippines, Latvia, Ireland, England. We asked our steward a little about his role on the ship and life back home. It seems that most of the workers sign on for 6-9 month commitments, leaving their family at home. Much like the military service, and although they don't get paid much by American standards, their earnings are often enough to care for their entire extended family back home.

Every night there was plenty of entertainment to choose from: musicians, comedians, magicians, dancers, etc... The Theatre shown below was where most of the main events happened. It was a beautiful three story theatre complete with a super swanky chandelier. We certainly didn't feel like we were on a boat when we were in this room. We snuck in at one point to snap the picture below and were quickly told to leave--apparently they were practicing the magic tricks for that night's entertainment so we were seeing too much of the illusion! Ooops!

And of course, as always, waiting for us that night...

10 Year Trip-Part 4

2010-12-03T14:54:00.004-06:00

The first full day of our cruise was spent on the ship en route to Progreso, Mexico. We spent most of it lounging in the sun and reading. Our room looked out the very front of the ship onto a deck that often felt like our own private deck.

There are tons of things to do on the ship, one of which being a nine-hole mini golf course. Nothing extravagant but it was a fun break in the day.

Dinner that night was more formal and I was surprised by the amount of women wearing formal evening gowns. Guess I missed the memo on how to pack a formal evening gown in a suitcase. I overheard one woman in the bathroom say she brought an entire suitcase full of just shoes. Sheesh!

There were several things that surprised us about our cruise including how much is not included in the "all-inclusive" deal (alcoholic drinks, soda, wasabi sauce for your sushi, etc...) The other surprise was that despite how many times we heard previous cruise-goers say, "Oh, you don't feel the ship move at all," we definitely felt the ship move. There was a rainstorm after dark the formal night and we both felt woozy enough that we were glad we brought Dramamine. We went to one comedy show and called it a night early because apparently "less-drowsy Dramamine" is not all that much less drowsy.

We had a new little friend waiting for us this time.

10 Year Trip-Part 3

2010-11-22T13:14:00.007-06:00

After boarding the ship we were quite awestruck by the size of such a vessel so we took some time to explore a little before having lunch. The view below was the main Lido deck where most of the action took place during the week. Parties, games, contests, movies, etc. There was almost always something happening here.

We never did venture down the water slide. We tried out the hot tub which was nice but while the ship was moving it was breezy enough that you didn't really get hot enough to need to cool off in the pool or slide. Several people did of course, but we were content to just lay in the sun and enjoy the sea breeze.

After lunch our room was ready so we took a few minutes to check it out before the ship disembarked. Tight quarters, but we had a window that looked out onto the balcony at the very front of the ship so that was nice. We didn't really spend a lot of time in our room because of all the entertainment they had on the ship.

The view of the New Orleans skyline from the ship as we sailed off.

We thought we were going to be able to watch the coastline disappear into the distance the first night but were surprised to discover that we had about a six hour journey down the Mississippi before even reaching the Gulf. Needless to say, we only watched the sun set and then headed in for dinner.

This little guy awaited us when we headed to bed later that night!

10 Year Trip-Part 2

2010-11-19T21:45:00.007-06:00

Monday morning we walked down towards the French Market. The streets along the way were so pretty with lots of gorgeous balconies and stately buildings. We overheard a tour guide say that apartments in the French Quarter run about $1200/mo. and have a 5-7 year waiting period.

We walked past Jackson Square on the way, a park dedicated to General Andrew Jackson, the commander of the American forces at the Battle of New Orleans. Beautiful lush vegetation in the middle of a "tight quarters" area.

We stopped for beignets (french doughnuts) and chicory coffee at the insanely popular Cafe DuMonde. Apparently chicory is a root added to coffee as a substitute. It is a long standing New Orleans tradition which developed when the port (the second largest importer of coffee in the 1840's) was blockaded off during the Civil War. It tasted fabulous to me and the beignets were the perfect complement!

After breakfast we walked up the levy and took a gander at the Mississippi on the Moonwalk, a scenic boardwalk named after the mayor who created it. Below is a view of Jackson Square and the Saint Louis Cathedral in the background.

The Saint Louis Cathedral is the oldest continually operating Cathedral in the United States and it. was. Beautiful. So much of the culture in New Orleans centers around beauty, the arts, I've never seen so many talented musicians and artists on the street. There is a sense of awe and appreciation that makes one just swell with joy that talent and giftedness like that even exists.

After walking down the Moonwalk we stopped into the French Market, a giant open air market with everything from fresh produce to a flea market.

Unfortunately, many of the vendors weren't yet open but there was booth after booth of people setting up for the day like this one. I can't imagine the well-oiled machine it must take to set this up day in and day out.

We stopped by the Casino on our way to the Boat for a burger from Fudrucker's and headed to the River Walk to get to our ship. The River Walk had a great Mardi Gras party feel to it as evidenced by this statue and tour boat.

Next stop: Carnival Triumph!

10 Year Trip-Part 1

2010-11-16T21:11:00.006-06:00

A friend of mine suggested a while back that I blog about some of the trips we've taken and places we've been. We are hardly world travelers or anything but we do try to be intentional about getting away together. We made a goal when we got married that we would try to visit all fifty states together during the course of our marriage. (And as long as we're dreaming I'd love to visit 50 other countries as well!) Our belief is that traveling together creates a bond whether the travel is good or full of mishaps (as long as you can have a sense of humor about it).

Our belief was backed by some recent research as read about on CNN.com:
"Psychological research suggests that, in the long run, experiences make people happier than possessions.

The study looked at 154 people enrolled at San Francisco State University, with an average age of about 25. Participants answered questions about a recent purchase -- either material or experiential -- they personally made in the last three months with the intention of making themselves happy.

While most people were generally happy with the purchase regardless of what it was, those who wrote about experiences tended to show a higher satisfaction at the time and after the experience had passed.

A sense of relatedness to others -- getting closer to friends and family -- may be one of the reasons why experiences generate more happiness."

So, last week we celebrated our 10 year Anniversary by taking a Cruise through the Gulf of Mexico. It was our first cruise, my first time being in Mexico and we had a fabulous time.

We cruised out of New Orleans so we drove down the day before to be able to experience life in the French Quarter.

Bourbon Street at night was certainly ~~scary~~ interesting and something I can say I did and won't plan to do again.

We did love this sign, though, for one of the shops along the strip. One of W's "baby" terms for "yesterday" was "yesteryear" up until about a year ago. This sight just brought back a little fond nostalgia and we thought we'd capture it to validate W's originality.

We found a classic New Orleans Jazz performer and sat to listen while sharing our first New Orleans fare: Classic Royal Croissant Sandwich from Cafe Beignet. Steamboat Willie set the tone for a great week ahead and after a long day of driving we headed back to the hotel before our big bon voyage the next day!

Air Show

2010-07-24T13:36:00.004-06:00

S took W on an impromptu, spur of the moment trip to the Air Show last night. We've been wanting to take him for years but just never made it a priority. We happened to see a commercial on T.V. this week and after looking into it S decided to brave the heat.

Can you tell W was just a leeeetle bit excited?

It was really every boy's dream complete with tractors, monster trucks, helicopters and parachuters. It was clearly planned by men or moms who know what boys like!

Here he is pretending to be a patient in the Apache Medical Transport Helicopter.

Can you find him?

L hasn't quite developed the love for machinery that W has so she and I stayed home and did things that were a little more her speed:

29 Gifts-Day 29!

2010-07-06T19:01:00.003-06:00

My gift today was to leave an encouragement card with some of my favorite teas to the woman I share office space with. Since she uses the office on the days I don't, we really only see each other at our monthly staff meetings. She's had a pretty rough few weeks as of late.

When she asked in our last meeting, "Who counsels the counselors when they are having a hard time?" my gears started turning to come up with some way to be a blessing to her. I hope my gift encourages her to be good to herself as she spends so much time and energy caring for others.

Well, there you have it. 29 gifts in 29 days. Well, except for the one gift that I still can't remember. At this point I've resigned myself to the fact that it is lost forever in the dark recesses of my memory.

I thought I'd take my last post to recap a few of the lessons I have learned through this experiment:

-It's a lot easier than I thought it would be to find small ways to give, especially financially.

-I worry about my life and future much less when my thoughts are focused throughout the day on what opportunity I will have to give that day.

-When I do give, it surprisingly makes me feel like I have more instead of feeling like I'm left with less.

-I truly do have an abundant life with lots of opportunities to share my blessings with other people.

-I'm so sold on this whole idea that I intend to start living my life in increments of 29 day giving cycles!

If you are wondering what I'm talking about with this "29 gifts" read this post here and consider joining me in this movement!

29 Gifts-Days 26, 27 and 28

2010-07-05T10:55:00.004-06:00

My gifts Saturday were fun as well. A longtime friend of mine recently moved into a new house. We stopped by for lunch after my sister and I had run a Freedom Fest 5K together. I had fun putting together a little housewarming basket for them and enjoyed getting to see them happily settled into their gorgeous new home.

Later that night we attended a party for some friends of ours who are moving out of state. I put together a little travel activity bag for their daughter to keep her busy on their long trip to their new home. Sometimes our life feels like a revolving door of friends moving in and out. But we're always thankful for the way these friends bless us even if it's just a short time they are part of our lives.

Yesterday was a busy but fun day. My gift was a spontaneous subtle one at church that morning. Someone had forgotten to prepare snacks for the toddler room so since I was available I helped quickly get some together while the toddlers waited as patiently as toddlers can. It looked like they had about 20 2-3 year olds in their class that morning and having taught the toddler class next door for years I know how very crucial snack time is to the Sunday morning routine.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning and spending some time with family cooking out and waiting for fireworks that night. The 4th is always a long evening since our kids usually go to bed at 8:00. Keeping them occupied and happy until 9 or after can be a bit exhausting. Our fireworks display that night got rained on but not rained out so by the time we got home we were all a great big sopping mess of Off bug spray mixed with rain.

Tonight my gift was a birthday present for my little niece who turned a big 3 yesterday. She had a great little princess party and the cousins had a wonderful time fighting over all the new toys!

Join me tomorrow for my 29th day of 29 giving!

If you are wondering what I'm talking about with this "29 gifts" read this post here and consider joining me in this movement!

29 Gifts-Days 22, 23, 24 and 25

2010-07-02T20:18:00.002-06:00

My gift on Day 22 was to send an email and spend some time praying for a dear friend of mine who is really in the trenches of motherhood right now. This friend has actually taught me so much about giving and generosity because of how abundantly she has given to me over the years.

In fact she just sent my husband and I a gift card to Starbucks for our 10 year anniversary. I don't know many friends who do that kind of thing so she is clearly a thoughtful person. Anyway, she has two young children and is certainly feeling the demands of being a stay-at-home mom.

My gift on Day 23 is actually rather embarrassing really because I can't remember what it was! I have been wracking my brain all evening trying to remember and can't for the life of me. I know I gave something but have no idea what it was.

Rather than drive myself crazy with guilt and frustration over what it was, I am choosing to let it go. I'll probably wake bolt up right in the middle of the night tonight and remember so maybe I'll include it with my next post.

My gift yesterday was to donate my change to the Ronald McDonald House when I bought a smoothie at McDonald's. I bought the smoothie for my friend who was watching my kids while I had a staff meeting. I considered letting that be my "gift" for the day but since I was receiving something in return for that gift I figured it might not "count." Not that any of you are keeping track anyway.

My gift today was to leave my quarter in my cart when I returned it at Aldi. If you've ever shopped at Aldi, you know what I'm talking about. I remember when Aldi first began charging for cart use and what an uproar it was. I didn't really understand why people had a problem with it because you get your quarter back when you return your cart.

Anyway, our small town lone homeless man often sits next to the carts and waits for people to leave their quarters in the carts which he then collects. When he's there I try to remember to leave it and I've seen several other people do the same. I actually think he probably makes a killing doing that.

Although he wasn't there today I thought it still might be fun to make somebody twenty five cents richer. Or maybe they'll pay it forward and leave it again for the next person to enjoy for free.

Seems like kind of a dumb little gift but for some reason I was kind of excited to see who would get my cart. I have to imagine I looked pretty silly driving really slow out of the parking lot and gaping at the Aldi carts with a goofy grin on my face.

I finally decided before ever getting to see who took my cart that I better focus on driving and not get into an accident. Hitting someone else's car would probably put a damper on that gift giving experience.

If you are wondering what I'm talking about with this "29 gifts" read this post here and consider joining me in this movement!
Read more...

29 Gifts-Days 19, 20 and 21

2010-06-28T12:30:00.002-06:00

I've spent much of the past few days on the receiving end of this 29 gifts experience rather than the giving end. A friend of mine had passed along a gift certificate for a photography session to us that she couldn't use so we did that Saturday.

We went out to Funk's Grove where a local photographer took some fun candids of our kids. I'm anxious to see how they turned out because even though our kids can be painfully shy at times, I think they were really getting into it by the end.

My gift that day was to take my son to see Toy Story 3. We don't often go on "dates" unless it's to doctor or dentist appointments so this felt like a special treat for him and I. If you've seen it, you know it's a bit of a tear jerker so I was trying my best to regain composure at the end before he noticed me crying and asked "Why are you sad, mommy?"

When I told him I felt like Andy's mommy and sometimes I just wish I could always be with him, he was quiet for a minute and then said, "Next time, I want Daddy to take me to the movie."

Way to ruin my moment, kid.

He did ask to sit on my lap about a third of the way through the movie, though so I enjoyed snuggling him through the rest of the movie. And I'm pretty sure he enjoyed going with me after all.

When we got home we got out the new slip n' slide I had bought them a couple nights ago and we all had fun cooling off on a blistering hot day. It took me back to my childhood and the sore, bruised body was worth the laughter and giggles.

Sunday was a pretty quiet day at home after church and my gift was to make my family peanut butter cookies. OK, so they were just a Betty Crocker bag mix. But just the same, my son helped me every step of the way and it was a fun bonding experience for he and I. He even learned how to wash the dishes for the first time ever so I hope I can continue to capitalize on the novelty of that for years to come!

Since today is my birthday the giving has been done by everyone around me, to me! My husband made us a french toast breakfast, my mother in law is watching the kids for me this afternoon so I can do some second hand store shopping. I love hunting for treasures and have already found a couple gems.

I plan to go out again this afternoon, pick up the kids and go out to Cracker Barrel as a family tonight. My gift today was to give my change at one of the second hand stores to help the homeless.

I have noticed during these 29 days that giving in small increments like that is so easy, painless and hardly felt at all. Why haven't I done that more in my life? Even if nothing extravagant is accomplished through this experience I hope I at least have started developing a habit to give in those small consistent ways.

If you are wondering what I'm talking about with this "29 gifts" read this post here and consider joining me in this movement!

29 Gifts-Days 16, 17 and 18

2010-06-25T18:43:00.004-06:00

My gift on Day 16 was to leave payment for the next person who came after us at the pool entrance. I'm not sure the cashier quite understood what I was talking about though because she just stared at me with this blank look on her face and said, "mmkkaaay." Interesting to wonder about what strangers think of this giving experience. They seem receptive but with a hesitancy that says, "Either you are some weird stalker person or you are an unusually kind person." I hope I can live up to the latter.

My gifts yesterday were fun, fun, fun! I threw a little impromptu, low-key birthday party for a friend of mine. She is part of an informal playgroup that meets whenever our busy schedules allow.

It almost didn't happen at all though because one of the girls I was planning to invite had her baby 6 weeks early, another ended up leaving early for their vacation and then the guest of honor almost canceled as well! Thank goodness she ended holding off on her other plans and came anyway.

It was a small group but a fun morning complete with cake, and all the typical birthday fare. My gift to her was a jar of Nutella because we had just been talking about how much we love it but don't often indulge ourselves with it.

Yesterday was also my husband and I's 10 year anniversary so I know this will sound really weird, but my other gift was to let my husband book a cruise to celebrate this milestone. Yes, I hear you, "How is enjoying a relaxing tropical vacation a gift to anyone other than yourself?"

But I had some reservations about this trip. Finances are always a concern, considering we're hoping to buy a home sometime in the next year or so. But of course my king of deals husband found a steal on this cruise and we can drive to the take-off port in order to save money on airfare.

My counseling income has been more than usual lately and with the few yards he mows we should be able to recoup the money within a few months. So although logistically it seemed to make sense I was struggling with it looking selfish for us to use our money that way instead of putting it towards a house or spending it on our kids.

Which brings me to my next reservation-the kids. I've never left our kids for more than 5 days and this trip will be almost 7 full days away. Again, the guilt. So those two reasons are why it was a gift for me to say yes to my husband on this. He's been dreaming about doing this for years now so I am choosing to put my reservations aside and even allow myself to get excited about this trip.

Today's gift has been to have a "yes" day with my kids. Some days it feels like all I say is "No" and "Go to your room for time-out." I think if I had a penny for every time I have said those words, we could take a cruise every month.

So today was:

play dinosaurs even though I have counters full of groceries to put away? yes

turn the music up loud in the van even though it makes my ears bleed? yes

play in the parked van, push all the dashboard buttons and pretend to drive? yes

go shirtless after nap even though you're a girl? yes

pick out a new "yellow" (which in L language actually means pink) shirt after you're done being shirtless even though the actually yellow shirt you were wearing before nap is miraculously somehow still clean? yes

play the same monotonous "save me from the lava" game on the slide a meeellion times because I love to hear you giggle and laugh hysterically? yes, yes, yes

I sure do love my life.

If you are wondering what I'm talking about with this "29 gifts" read this post here and consider joining me in this movement!

29 Gifts-Days 14 and 15

2010-06-22T21:29:00.002-06:00

Yesterday's giving was a little more subtle than compared to some of the other days. I spent some focused time praying for my sister and niece as they were facing a stressful day of doctor's appointments.

My sweet niece is entering that awkward stage of moving from childhood to womanhood. I don't have fond memories of that stage of life and figure prayer is about the best thing I can do to help ease that transition.

I also spent some time doing some planning/prepping for some gifts I'll be giving later this week so stay tuned for those!

Today's gifts were twofold. I had coffee with a friend who is experiencing a dark life hardship so I bought her drink and gave her my listening ear.

My other gift was to myself. Today marks the 5 year anniversary of what would have been our due date with our first baby. Every year on this day I do two things:
1. Clip a pink rose to enjoy inside from the rose bush we planted in memory of her
2. Bake an angel food cake in memory of our "angel"

These things always feel like a gift to myself.

A gift to validate the pain and grief we experienced.

A gift to remember the sensitivity we have gained because of that experience.

A gift to remind me of the hope and joy that comes in the morning after a long dark night of sadness.

If you are wondering what I'm talking about with this "29 gifts" read this post here and consider joining me in this movement!
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29 Gifts-Days 12 and 13

2010-06-20T12:31:00.002-06:00

We got to spend some time yesterday with friends of ours who moved away a couple years ago. Since they moved they have adopted two little boys from Haiti. That in itself was an amazing God story.

They started their adoption process before the earthquake thinking it would be another 2-3 years before they would actually get to bring their boys home. Then the earthquake happened and within two MONTHS they were traveling to Miami to pick up their boys! God has done so many amazing things through this situation and it has been awe-inspiring to see it all unfold.

My gift yesterday was to take some of my son's outgrown clothes to them for their boys. We have been so blessed in that area with how many hand-me-downs we have received. My sister has a son three years older than W so I rarely have to buy him a single item of clothing. So far we have received several hand-me-downs for my daughter as well but I must admit, I can't keep myself from still shopping for clothes for her.

In the book one of the statements the author makes is this, "Gratitude keeps my heart open." This is has certainly been the case when it comes to material items for our kids. I've been so grateful for how well we have been provided for and it makes me want to be keenly aware of who else I could pass along these items to. Plus it just seems like a good use of resources: to use, and pass along them along for re-use!

My giving today has been easy and plentiful. Being Father's Day and having the world's best father for a husband makes the giving come naturally. We had fun showering Daddy with his presents this morning although I think he knew what they all were before we gave them to him. Being four years old and keeping a secret does not go hand in hand.

We'll have my in-laws over for dinner tonight and spend some time honoring these great men in our lives. It is unfortunate how rare it is to find good, strong men who are fully invested in their children's lives and I feel blessed beyond belief to be on the receiving end of that gift.

If you are wondering what I'm talking about with this "29 gifts" read this post here and consider joining me in this movement!

29 Gifts-Days 10 and 11

2010-06-18T12:05:00.003-06:00

My gift yesterday was to let my kids play the little coin game with the build up of nickels in my wallet when we went out to eat at Taco Bell/KFC. They love to put change in and spin it to watch it fly. The money goes to helping provide education for at risk youth so we killed two birds with one stone. Helped others AND I got to say "yes" to the barrage of "Can we, can we, can we???"

My gift today felt like a bit of a risk. We celebrated Father's Day with my family this evening and my gift to him was a book called She Still Calls Me Daddy: Building a New Relationship with Your Daughter After You Walk Her Down the Aisle by Robert Wolgemuth. I realize it's been 10 years since I walked down the aisle but I thought the application would still be the same. I felt a little vulnerable giving him this and I'm not exactly sure why.

Maybe because I haven't read it myself yet so I don't exactly know what all it says. Maybe because I was afraid it would seem like kind of a selfish gift: "I want you to have this so you can learn how to be a better dad to me." Or maybe it's because my dad and I haven't always seen eye to eye. Especially during my rebellious teenage daughter years when I was so foolishly convinced that all my boyfriends knew more than my dad.

My dad's life hasn't been easy either. He has lived most of his life with an ugly digestive disease forcing him to have numerous surgeries and live on a ridiculously restricted diet. He worked in a job he hated for over 30 years for several reasons: in his generation you didn't job hop, you gutted it out; for the health insurance; to provide for his family; and to be able to retire early. These two life trials together in a lot of ways created a perfect storm that left him little energy.

And yet somehow he was present throughout my life. Taking us to gymnastics every week, coaching my softball team, riding long bike rides with me, teaching me how to fish, throw like a boy, mow the yard. He is the epitome of Mr. Fix It and our home was always in tip top shape thanks to his skill and expertise.

It's fascinating to me to realize that as much conflict as my dad and I have had over the years, I married a man with a lot of similarities to him. A disciplined work ethic, a natural handy-man, a lover of the outdoors, a man who takes pride in the women around him. I was often embarrassed by all the bragging my dad did about me and now that has just shifted to being embarrassed by all the bragging my husband does about me!

Either way, I know I am loved by both of the most important men in my life.

If you are wondering what I'm talking about with this "29 gifts" read this post here and consider joining me in this movement!

29 Gifts-Days 8 and 9

2010-06-16T12:34:00.004-06:00

I've decided that since this gift giving experience is more about giving the gifts than about the blogging, I'm going to cut myself a break. I'll try blogging every couple days and see how that goes and maybe even end up only blogging every few days. We'll see.

Yesterday's gift was to be purposeful about spending undivided attention time with my kids. Their grandma, who usually watches them on my work days, is on vacation this week so my husband and I juggled our work schedules to be able to cover the times I'd normally be gone. This allowed me to have most of Monday and Tuesday with them at home.

Monday I found myself distracted and busy after a busy day Sunday so I wasn't very "present" with them. Tuesday I decided I was going to be intentional about giving them my attention. While my son watched a video I played pretty ponies, dress up, kitchen and more with my daughter in her room. My favorite is when she insists on bringing me pretend refrigerated milk and chicken nuggets. Not sure why the milk always has to be refrigerated but she asks me repeatedly if I want it from the "fidgator" until I say yes. "No, thank you" is apparently not an acceptable answer.

I had checked out several new books at our library that morning at story time so I spent time with my son reading through those with him after my daughter had gone down for a nap. Lately I've had a one book rule with him because he asks so many questions about each page and picture that it can take 20-30 minutes to get through one book. But yesterday I just relaxed and enjoyed the hour or more connecting with him.

I certainly noticed that when I am more open to investing in them their attitude is more calm, relaxed and less defiant. It was a fulfilling gift for all of us.

Today my gift is a small "tribute" to my mom. I know she reads my blog and true to any loving mom she's my biggest fan and cheerleader. She, like me, is filled and encouraged by words of affirmation so I thought I'd take a few lines here to brag on her.

She came down for a few hours today and bought us McDonald's which has become a bi-weekly ritual for us. Every time I am with her I am reminded of what a selfless, sacrificial woman she is. It seems sometimes as though not a single thought goes through her mind without first thinking about what her children or grandchildren might need. In fact, just the other day when my daughter was trying to mooch food from my plate, I thought, if I was like my mom I would willingly give more and then some to my daughter. I want to be that selfless.

She's had her fair share of heartbreak and pain in her life and yet still she strives to be a woman of God, living a life of quiet service to Him. She is almost always working on some kind of sewing project, blankets to donate to babies in third world countries, pillow cases for children who are in the hospital, hats for chemo patients. The countless hours, money and energy she has invested in other people is not seen by very many people but is just a testament of her humility and desire to stay out of the spotlight.

In so many ways, mom, you are my hero and I hope I can be half the woman you are when I grow up. Love you.

If you are wondering what I'm talking about with this "29 gifts" read this post here and consider joining me in this movement!

29 Gifts-Day 7

2010-06-14T12:43:00.002-06:00

Wow, the first week of gifting is already over! The gifting has been a lot easier than I thought and I don't think I'll have any trouble at all making it to Day 29.

The harder part has been coming up with blog-worthy posts about the gifting so we'll see if I make it all 29 days with that.

It has been so refreshing to find myself daydreaming about what or how I could gift. There are so many ways I could be using my mental energy (I'm a worrier at my core) so using my free thoughts for coming up with creative gifts is so much more energizing than spending that time worrying. It's just feels great to be always mindful and purposeful about other people instead of focused solely on my own junk.

My gift today was to send a get-well card to a friend of mine having surgery today and leave a voice-mail message for her. I've spent some time praying for her throughout the day too. I'm really hoping her recovery is quick and painless and that she feels everyone's prayers in a big way today.

If you are wondering what I'm talking about with this "29 gifts" read this post here and consider joining me in this movement!

29 Gifts-Day 6

2010-06-13T19:19:00.002-06:00

My gift today was to buy my husband's favorite pastry for him while doing my grocery shopping. I laid it on the counter with a little note and it was several hours into the afternoon before he finally noticed it. I knew he would have a big reaction so I had been anxiously awaiting his realization.

I was in the midst of cooking supper when he saw them and his reaction certainly met my expectations. My husband presents as a very cool, calm, collected, quiet type in most circles but at home he is a loud, goofy, sometimes slightly obnoxious (said with all the love in the world, sweetie) character.

When he saw the package he let out a whoop and grabbed me for a big smooch. What followed gave me a chuckle.

Luckily, our kids haven't reached the age yet where any P.D.A. by their parents is totally gross so W just sat at the table watching the scene unfold. Hubby continued his song of praise for me and finally turned to W and said, "Just so you know, you have the most amazing woman in the world for a mommy."

Dramatic pause.

Crickets....chirp...chirp...

And finally W just replies with,

"Why?"

If you are wondering what I'm talking about with this "29 gifts" read this post here and consider joining me in this movement!

29 Gifts-Day 5

2010-06-12T13:01:00.002-06:00

"When I give with an open heart, I receive the profound gift of humility." This quote from the book puzzles me. I've always had a hard time understanding humility.

Dictionary.com defines it as a "modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance, rank, etc." It seems as though receiving the gift of humility is a paradox. Once you've received it, if you know you have received it, that kind of contradicts the definition. Is someone who knows they are humble, really humble?

I hope that this gift giving endeavor does help me have more of an open heart and allows me to receive humility. But I guess I also hope I never see myself as a humble person so I will always be striving to be more humble.

I've been grumpy today. I don't know if it's the heat or conflict with my kids or what but it's been harder to have an open heart today.

I went to several garage sales this morning and had to force myself to be friendly with people. Making small talk doesn't come naturally to me and I always feel awkward at garage sales when I don't make a purchase. But one of my gifts this morning was to say something kind to each garage sale owner even if I didn't make a purchase instead of just darting off with my head down avoiding eye contact.

I also told one of the people to keep the change when I bought a few things. I had one guy do that for me when I did my garage sale earlier in the year and found it to be a refreshing change from people who want to bargain and negotiate on a .25 item. I even actually had someone return a .50 item because they couldn't figure out how it worked. Come. on. Really?

Anyway, I have already noticed how this gift giving effort has forced me to think about my mood. I don't want to be a grumpy giver, that defeats the purpose. So today I choose to let go of my grump and be at peace instead.

If you are wondering what I'm talking about with this "29 gifts" read this post here and consider joining me in this movement!

29 Gifts-Day 4

2010-06-11T13:21:00.003-06:00

I am a lover of words. I love to read words, I love to listen to words and I am finding how very much I love writing words.

My husband and I just had words last night. Not conflictual words, as that statement usually indicates, but encouraging words. Words that connected our souls and allowed us to process our relationship. We have been so busy lately and it had been way too long since we had just carved out time to talk about us.

My love language is words of affirmation. When people give affirming words to me they soak into my spirit in a way that refuels me, energizes me and fills me. That's why you'll probably see that a lot of my gifts over these 29 days will be words affirming others.

We naturally tend to give to others what we ourselves crave. But I also think our culture is severely deficient in this area of affirming words. Why is it so hard for us to tell another person how wonderful they are? Is it too much risk? Too much vulnerability? Too much humility?

Whatever the reason, or however uncomfortable it may make me, I want people to feel good about themselves when they are with me. I want people to walk away from time with me and feel lighter, more encouraged, empowered.

My gift today was to send words of affirmation to a friend of mine who is having a very rough start to her summer. I wrote a note and included a couple tea bags of my favorite kinds of tea in hopes that she will be good to herself and take time to relax. I also called her and left a message telling her of my concern for her and that I'm praying for her. It's always hard to know what to do for far-a-away friends who are struggling but I hope this brightens her day at least a little.

If you are wondering what I'm talking about with this "29 gifts" read this post here and consider joining me in this movement!

29 Gifts-Day 3

2010-06-10T12:44:00.004-06:00

When we were dealing with infertility/pregnancy loss issues several years ago, joy was a rare commodity. So much of my world revolved around my medications, my cycle, my body, my hormones, my hopes, my disappointments, my, my, my...

A wise friend of mine spoke words to me that helped me change my perspective during that time in my life. I don't remember the exact conversation but she basically told me it looked like I was living a pretty scarce life when God had an abundant life waiting right in front of me.

It took a while for me to wrap my brain around what that meant. But soon I began to see how I really was living life out of a scarcity mentality. The picture I got in my mind was of people during the Depression era. I'm sure not everyone lived this way during the Depression but the overall impression I get is that because they didn't have what they wanted or needed they clung so very tightly to the meager things they did have.

The opposite of that, abundance, is living a life so full of blessing that you can't help but let it spill over into other people's lives. The picture I get here is of someone standing in a waterfall filling their cup over and over and over. Letting it spill out continuously, unable to keep it from ever emptying.

I want to live that kind of life.

I loved that this was a theme brought out more than once in the book. "...if you feel yourself giving out of obligation...you are in scarcity mode. You end up feeling drained and burned out...out of balance."

"When you give from a place of service, honesty, and fullness, you are left feeling revitalized." This is living life abundantly.

My gifts today were first to buy my kids some pool noodles. W was quite envious of his friend's from yesterday so since they were only $1 at the dollar store I felt justified in indulging them. They've already had lots of fun using them in the kiddie pool in the backyard and beating each other up. I love summer.

My second gift was an idea I stole from my mom. I bought a bag of m&m's at the store and after checking out told the cashier to enjoy them on her break. She certainly looked surprised, said thank you and that was that! Nothing earth shattering, but I got a fun rush from doing it and I bet she's enjoying a fun sugar rush on her break today.

If you are wondering what I'm talking about with this "29 gifts" read this post here and consider joining me in this movement!

29 Gifts-Day 2

2010-06-09T13:42:00.002-06:00

One of the lessons learned in 29 gifts is about the importance of receiving with grace. Some people have a really hard time receiving gifts. Ever given someone a compliment only to be met with, "Oh, sheesh," and a whole string of explanations why you shouldn't have paid them that compliment? Why does it somehow seem more comfortable to react that way at times rather than just with a simple, "thank you"?

The author of this book hi-lites the unexplainable phenomena that occurs when you start giving: you start getting. Not in a "I'm only giving in order to get" kind of way. Perhaps it is more of a mindset change. When you give from a place of gratitude you begin to see life differently. You begin to notice all the things in your life that you could give away: your time, your money, your possessions, your love. So maybe it's not necessarily true that the more you give, the more you get. Maybe it's actually the more you give, the more intensely you NOTICE all the things you get.

I noticed that today. A sweet, long-time, dear friend sent me a message today in response to this 29 gifts experience she's been reading about on my blog. Her words were so very affirming and I will cherish them in a way that perhaps I would not have if I had not been NOTICING all that I have.

My gifts today so far have been subtle. My first gift was that I called a couple friends to invite them to the pool. One was unable to go, the other was already planning to go. I wasn't going to call anyone because I thought we might want to test out the pool experience for the first time this year without friends around to up the ante. My oldest son is very shy and when I am distracted talking to others he tends to act out and vie for my attention.

Everything went fairly well until the end, leaving fun places is often a problem. W had one of his oh-so-fun out of control melt-downs when it was time to leave and eventually I just had to carry him out kicking and screaming, strap him in his carseat and go back in for my bags and towels. Quite embarrassing. However, in the midst of it I actually thought to myself, "OK, my gift to him is that I'm not going to lose it with him. I'm going to remain non-anxious, handle this like an adult and not scream at him as soon as we get in the car." What I really wanted to do is lay down on the pool concrete and kick and scream and cry too!!

We made it home, discussed his consequences, he apologized, said he was tired and is now napping. I have decided my third gift for the day is to not let this frustration ruin my day. I could mope around and pout and hold this against him the rest of the day. But I don't like me when I do that and neither does my family! I don't know if this third gift is more for me or for my family!

If you are wondering what I'm talking about with this "29 gifts" read this post here and consider joining me in this movement!

29 Gifts-Day 1

2010-06-08T20:02:00.002-06:00

A large theme throughout 29 gifts is the author's experience with an African spirituality that fueled her giving experiment. Although I may not agree with the beliefs or divination rituals of this type of "religion" I appreciate the focus of living life generously.

In my own Christian faith I am a firm believer that we only have the ability to give because we were first given to. 1 John 4:19 says, "We love because He first loved us." It is only out of His love that we are capable of giving love to others.

I need not have been worried about forgetting to give a gift during this first day of my giving cycle. I was amazed at how many opportunities I was given to consciously choose to give.

The first gift I gave today was to write a few encouraging words to some spiritual mentors of mine who have been experiencing their fair share of tragedy. The humorous part of this is I realized halfway through the day that I worded my message incorrectly to them and the meaning was significantly altered because of my mistake. I went back later in the day to correct myself and hope they can find encouragement from my letter and maybe get a laugh as well.

The second gift I gave was to donate $1 to the Lou Gherig's Foundation that the CVS cashier asked me about at the end of my transaction. Those type of questions usually just irritate me because most of the time I hang my head in shame as I mutter "no thank you" under my breath, grab my receipt and run for the door so the person behind me in line doesn't think I'm a cheapskate (which I guess I am.) Anyway, even though $1 is really not a big deal it felt good to be able to say confidently, "Sure!" and know that this was part of my conscious choice to give.

If you are wondering what I'm talking about with this "29 gifts" read this post here and consider joining me in this movement!

29 gifts

2010-06-07T20:27:00.004-06:00

Visit 29-Day Giving Challenge

My mom loaned me a book a few weeks ago called 29 gifts by Cami Walker. She explained briefly to me that it is about a woman who developed Multiple Sclerosis and her journey to come to grips with it. I have to admit I wasn't all that excited to read it because I thought it would just be another depressing story. Since I spend my work days as a counselor listening to depressing stories I usually try to avoid such stories in my free time.

However, as shallow as this sounds, the cover was pretty cute so I decided to dive in during our recent camping trip. Within the first two chapters I was hooked and finished the book within a week. The author was diagnosed with MS one month after her wedding and within a couple years of rapidly declining health she plummeted into a fairly severe depression. Someone suggested to her that she begin a 29 day giving cycle in which she seek to give a gift to another person for 29 days in a row.

The rest of the book describes how this process changed her life and helped her begin to live her life focused on others instead of her own illness. I was so inspired by the book I've decided to begin my own giving cycle starting tomorrow and chronicle my journey on my blog.

My biggest fears in starting this are
1. that I'll forget and get through my day without having consciously given a gift to another person.
2. that I won't have time to blog every day.

However, I have thought about the book every day since I finished it more than a week ago so I'm guessing I actually won't forget to give a gift. Also, if I don't have time to blog every day then I guess it won't be the end of the world if I have to double up entries.

So if I've got you curious you can keep checking back here or check out the author's website here. Let's get gifting!

Sponsor child

2010-06-06T14:37:00.004-06:00

We sponsor a sweet little girl in Haiti who is entering the 6th grade. She attends a school that S and I visited while on a short term missions trip during college. We often get letters from her, school homework papers, pictures, drawings and report cards. She's a pretty smart cookie and it has been very fun to see her personality mature and develop over the years.

I think she has asked in every letter she has written so far, when we are coming to visit her. In her last letter she asked if we had heard about the earthquake they had there (as if we may not have heard about the tragedy that killed hundreds of thousands of people) and told us a little about her perspective on it. It was inspiring, to say the least, to hear about the earthquake through the eyes of an 11 year old who praised God for protecting her family in Port-au-Prince.

We received our most recent packet of papers from her last week and in it was the following writing assignment that made us laugh and left us a bit puzzled.

"One time when I was little my cousin held me on her lap. I had a diarhea. She didn't know that. While I was laughing and screaming, and poop on her lap and she was mad at me. She said she will not hold me on her lap again."

I guess I can't help but be proud since she got a 92%!

Camping

2010-06-01T14:24:00.007-06:00

Camping is always a bit of a detox experience for me. I never realize until we set up our home on a dirt ground how very dependent I am on things like a toilet that flushes, TV time for the kids, a shower that I can control the temperature of, TV time for the kids, laundry accessibility, the internet, did I mention TV time for the kids?

But surprisingly it doesn't take me too terribly long to stop the twitching withdrawal symptoms and begin to really enjoy the simplicity, the purity and the community of camping with friends.

S has always clarified for me that car camping is totally cushy compared to wilderness camping. The past two years we have even been borrowing my dad's pop up camper which is practically like staying at the Marriott compared to what he would prefer.

But I think he would admit that the following moments were fully enjoyed even in the luxury of a pop-up camper:

L's first canoe trip

Petting a King Snake

Simplicity

Why can't they always treat each other like this?

L and B's trike gang

Hiking

W and G navigating an abandoned boat

Two scraped knees later and countless mosquito bites equal what I would consider to be a pretty successful and fun trip.

Benefit

2010-05-09T04:25:00.003-06:00

In October our friends found out their four year old son, N, had Leukemia. This news hit like a ton of bricks and sent us spinning into a surreal protective mode. Protective of our own babies, holding them a little tighter but also protective of our friends, trying to find ways we could help their family through this trauma.

One of the ways we decided to help was through organizing a benefit for their family to help pay for expenses related to their years of treatment ahead. I had never been to a benefit but our planning team had some really fun ideas that we would hoped would raise a little cash.

We planned a carnival theme event with a chili/hot dog meal and a live and silent auction. We quickly realized that we might have bit off a little more than we could chew but after a lot of hard work and lots of planning it turned out to be a fabulous success.

To be honest, it probably required just as much if not more planning than my wedding! We planned for 500 people and I only had 200 people at our wedding. There was more than one night where I lay in bed thinking, "what are we going to do about this? and who's going to do this? and what about this?" So my lists grew longer and longer and I found it to be surprisingly energizing to check off those lists one by one.

A large part of the benefit required asking for donations of all sorts, time, resources, items, money. Normally this intimidates me but in this case I so strongly believed in the cause that I didn't feel a need to apologize as I asked for things. I was giving people an opportunity to be a part of something beautiful and it was so cool to see how generous people can be.

The event itself went off without a hitch (well, ok, I guess we had a few minor hitches). The community really came out to support our friends and the final count raised was above $17,000!! It was so inspiring to see so many people come out to be a part of something that allowed our friends to be able to take one major concern (finances) out of the equation over the course of the next several years.

N was not able to come to the event. It would have been too risky for his health to be at such an event but his parents were both able to come and I could sense the resigned, overwhelmed look on both their faces. It's not fair that children have to endure such atrocities and for one evening we were able to celebrate good instead of succumbing to the bad.

Cody

2010-05-08T04:31:00.003-06:00

Whew, you know it's been a long time since you blogged when you can't figure out how to log in to your own blog! My extended sabbatical from blogging was much enjoyed but I've been getting an itch to write lately so I thought I'd try to pick it back up for a bit. So much has happened since my last little video I almost don't know where to start!

One of the biggest events in our family's past months has been saying goodbye to our seven year old dog, Cody. Sometime in March he started being choosy about his food which is very unlike our typical greedy lab. We always know when something is wrong with him when he stops eating. But he was still acting so happy and like his normal self otherwise we didn't give it much thought. After a few weeks of that we tried switching dog food thinking maybe he was just getting older and bored of his dog chow. He liked the switch initially but within a week he was back to his old ways.

One day I happened to come across some of his heart-worm pills from last year and realized I had forgotten to give him several months worth. I immediately panicked thinking my negligence had probably given our dog heart-worm disease and asked hubby to take him to the vet immediately for a heart-worm test.

The vet thought he looked very healthy (they always gush over what a beautiful dog he is) but ran the test anyway and took some blood just to rule out any other infections, etc.

The next day my mom was down for a visit and we were eating our favorite fare when she's here, McDonald's. Hubby came home from work for lunch and asked if he could talk to me in the bedroom. I knew something wasn't right and my heart started pumping wondering what bad news I was about to receive. He quietly choked out the words, "Cody has cancer."

I hate to admit that my first thought was, "Oh, great, how much is this going to cost us?" Cody has a way of acquiring strange injuries, illnesses that cost just enough to hurt the pocketbook but not enough to actually consider not having treatment done. So my initial thoughts were, he probably needs a lump removed or something that will cost a few hundred dollars.

But then as my ears were ringing and my hands grew cold with sweat, I heard hubby say things like, "the vet is pretty concerned...it could be leukemia...his counts are really high...it doesn't look good..."

The vet suggested we take him to an oncologist at the U of I to determine what kind of cancer it was so we scheduled an appt. for the next day. Our vet was certain it was leukemia but there were two types of leukemia that she couldn't determine between as to which it was. We learned as we talked to the Dr. at U of I, there are two types of leukemia, acute and chronic. If it had been chronic we could have popped him a pill and given him another three good years to live, if it was acute the prognosis is not good.

We waited there most of the day to receive the results that it was indeed acute. The vet said he had a matter of weeks to live and that his decline would be rapid.

Sad does not begin to describe how we felt when we received this news. He was only 7 so we thought we had at least another 3-4 years left with him. He was still acting so happy and besides some restlessness and loss of appetite one would never know he was sick!

We both knew we couldn't watch him deteriorate so after a day or two of thought and as he grew more and more restless and unable to sleep we decided to have him put to sleep just three days after his diagnosis. Cody has always been a silent sufferer (as my mom so aptly puts it) so his unwillingness to even lay down was a pretty good indication of his discomfort.

We made a bucket list for our beloved family member and took him swimming one last time, one last hike through the woods, let him eat noodles and rice and pretty much whatever he wanted. He lived every dog's dream for about two days and then we said goodbye.

It was probably the second hardest day of my life next to our miscarriage. Cody was actually added to our family largely in response to our infertility 7 years ago. In a lot of ways he was our first baby, named after the restaurant where hubby and I had our first date, taken on family vacations and camping trips, a healing and therapeutic presence during a lot of our marriage. His scruff and soft coat soaked up a lot of tears and his big floppy ears heard a lot of lamenting over the course of his life.

I miss him. I miss hearing his collar jingle when the kids have been napping too long and he's anxious for them to wake up and play again. I miss feeling his happy wags that left a bit of a welt and could knock down anything less than twenty pounds whenever we came home after being gone. I miss the security I felt running with a gigantic black dog. I miss watching W chase him relentlessly around the back yard hearing both of them bark at cars as they drive by. I miss seeing him tolerantly wearing jewelry and dress up clothes as L smiles up at me in pride of her creativity.

But mostly I just miss our friend.

"Sledding"

2009-12-27T16:48:00.001-06:00

Who says you need more than an inch of snow to go sledding?

The Final Visit

2009-12-09T14:45:00.009-06:00

We had W's 4th and final visit to the Dentist this morning. WOO HOO!!! Well, actually he goes back in a month for an adjustment and cleaning but that will seem like small potatoes compared to what this kid's been through!

I've been prepping him for a couple days for this visit where they would be working on the upper left two molars ( a filling and a sealant) and applying the tongue crib appliance to the roof of his mouth. He's always been fascinated by the permanent retainer I have behind my bottom front teeth so I tried to hype up the excitement that he gets to have one of his very own! And his is even more special because his is on the TOP of his mouth.

He fell nicely into my trap and after the initial reaction of "No, I don't want to go to the Dentist again because it might hurt," he was excited to get his own "retainer." "I'm going to be brave mom, even though I might cry."

We arrived to a nice surprise when we got to the office and found that the new wing they've been adding on to the building was complete and we got to experience a whole new, larger, more professional looking office. Thankfully, the toys were still the same and the staff was as sweet as always so he wasn't thrown off by going to a "new dentist" again.

He did as great as always and greeted us afterwards with the same loopy grin he always does. He wanted to show us his tongue crib right away and asked to see my retainer again so we could compare. It's not as noticeable as I feared but it's certainly visible when he talks, laughs, etc.

He's had a little rougher time adjusting to having a large metal football in his mouth and complained a little during lunch that he was having trouble eating. He seems satisfied by our encouragements that it will just take some time to get used to though and I think he thought it was fun and special that I cut up his sandwich for him so he could eat it.

I caught him after lunch trying to take it out and asking when he could take it out and why he couldn't take it out now. I told him when it starts getting warm outside again after winter is when he'll be able to take it off.

His biggest disappointment so far is that he can't make tooting noises with his mouth as easily as he used to. Ah, the mind of a four year old.

W Thanksgiving preschool program

2009-11-18T22:19:00.001-06:00

Most of the time I had no idea what they were saying, but man, weren't they cute?!

Just playing

2009-11-14T14:06:00.005-06:00

I've been inspired by my friend and started playing around on picasa today. (As if I needed something else to suck away my time!) Here's a sample of what I came up with...

Visit 3

2009-11-11T10:15:00.002-06:00

Today was the big day. And he was such a champ! They worked on his upper right two molars, took impressions for the tongue crib that will be inserted in December, and pulled his front top two teeth.

I was so nervous about today's visit but once again I was amazed at how smoothly it all went. It's not even as noticeable as I thought it would be that he is missing his front two teeth. So far he hasn't complained of any pain so hopefully that will be the case even after the novocaine wears off.

Visit 2

2009-10-19T11:36:00.003-06:00

Our second visit at the Dentist went smoothly. I was a little concerned last night because when I told W we were going to the Dentist today he said, "But he might use a screwdriver again and that hurts a little bit." But he didn't resist going today so I was relieved.

They worked on the bottom right two molars today filling cavities and applying sealants. Everything was pretty straight forward although I thought they were going to do the impressions for his tongue crib today and they didn't. So our next visit on November 11 will be a biggie: fillings and sealants on the upper left two molars, impressions made for the tongue crib and the front two teeth extracted.

We used our newly acquired Dave Ramsey skills at our last visit and asked if they would consider a discount for cash payment. To our surprise they offered a 7% discount if we paid the whole bill up front with a check. So although writing that check hurt a little we feel good about getting at least a little discount. Acquiring Dental Insurance is definitely on our to-do list!

Visit 1

2009-09-26T04:58:00.003-06:00

W is such a champ. I was so proud of how he handled his first Dentist appointment yesterday. If you are visiting my blog for the first time in a while read this post below to catch up on what's been new in our lives.

Everything went REALLY well yesterday and we were amazed at how quick the appointment was. When we pulled into the dentist parking lot, W excitedly said, "We get to go to this dentist AGAIN?!" We've been to three dentists in the past two months and never the same one twice until now so I think he was surprised to be back at the same one we saw Wednesday!

We arrived 10 minutes early and they were waiting for us so W got to go right back all by himself. This office doesn't allow parents back in the exam room. At first this bothered me but I've come to realize just how smart they are in not allowing mama bear back there.

Less than 30 minutes later he walked out into the waiting room with a smile on his face and they said he was all done! They worked on the lower left quadrant this time, filling cavities on the two back molars. They said he did great, that one of the cavities was pretty deep so they'll need to keep an eye on it. They may eventually need to extract the tooth or put a crown on it but for now we're just going to try the filling and hope it holds.

He was pretty quiet for a while afterwards but never once complained of pain the rest of the day. I even got a personal phone call later that day from the Dentist himself who just wanted to check in on him and make sure he did ok after his first time having dental work done. It's such a relief to know we found such a great place for all this!

I asked W if he wants to come back in a few weeks (our next appointment will be Oct. 19) and he enthusiastically said, "YEAH!"

Dentist

2009-09-24T13:45:00.004-06:00

I have procrastinated in making this public but now that we have a plan in place I feel a little more comfortable talking about it. The past few months have been a bit of a nightmare for us and as much as I hoped I'd wake up someday and realize it was all just a bad dream, I've finally accepted reality that this is not going away.

Two months ago I took W to the Dentist for the first time. They found several cavities, referred us to a pediatric dentist who wanted to do all the dental work necessary while he was under general anesthesia in the hospital. Because of how many cavities he had, he would probably need fillings or crowns on 7 of his 8 back molars.

We were shocked and disappointed, especially when we found out that because we do not have dental insurance and we have a high medical deductible the cost would be at least $7000 out of pocket.

We decided we needed to explore other options and chose to get a second opinion from a pediatric dentist in Decatur who does most of his work in office using nitrous oxide. We had our first appointment with him yesterday and received good news and bad news.

The good news:
He will not need any crowns on his back molars after all. After doing xrays the decay on his molars was not as bad as we initially were told and Dr. says he should only need fillings and sealants on them. The only cavities were on the top surface so crowns would be unnecessary. We'll be taking care of that in office over 4 separate visits using nitrous oxide.

The bad news:
Due to a combination of 3 factors, his front two teeth will need to be extracted.
1st factor-Genetically, he inherited my overbite
2nd factor-thumb-sucking habit (even though he doesn't anymore, the damage has been done)
3rd factor-He has bumped his front teeth in various falls (they stick out more than average because of factor 1 and 2)

All those things combined has damaged the root of those two teeth so badly that the root is dead, infection has set in and they need to be removed before the infection reaches the permanent teeth. After those teeth are removed he will insert a tongue crib across the roof of his mouth for 6 months that will help to naturally push his top teeth back somewhat and at least partially correct the damage that has been done by the thumb-sucking.

Dr. has him on an antibiotic now for the infection and we'll have our first appointment tomorrow to begin with the lower left quadrant work. The front two teeth will come out at visit three in November.

There are several parts of this that have been hard: worry about finances, worry about how W will handle it and if he will cooperate, experience pain, etc. Of course I don't want my baby to have to go through all this.

But, perhaps the hardest part for me has been the self-doubt and shame I have felt about all of this. As a friend of mine said, "It's not like you let him suck on sugar-pops all day." But I instinctively accept full responsibility for allowing his teeth to get to this point and all too quickly allow myself to believe that I'm a bad mom because of it.

Thank goodness my God reminds me how untrue that is. He reminds me that W is his child too. That we aren't in this alone. That really in the great scheme of life this is going to be a small distant blip on a glorious eternal line. Thank goodness He reminds me of his Grace.

So, we ask for your prayers, your support and your encouragement. We've agonized over these decisions and feel good about the direction we are going. I'll try to update this blog after each visit.

I can already hear W singing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth..." Lucky him, he'll get to sing it for two years or more!

Don't Buy Stuff

2009-09-21T20:53:00.002-06:00

Hubby is team teaching a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class this semester at our church. We've become pretty hard core Dave fans the past year or two and think he would probably LOVE this video.

Like Father, Like Son

2009-09-12T14:33:00.003-06:00

We've been doing a lot of what hubby would call "cushy camping" lately. Camping in a pop-up camper, staying in a lodge at Discovery Ministries, visiting his parent's camper where they camp on the weekends. I think he was starting to get worried that W would grow up thinking that's what camping is.

He wants him to experience the wild, get dirty, sleep in a tent or better yet, under the stars. The last time we took W camping he was only about a year and a half old and it was not an enjoyable experience. I swore after that sleepless, cold, night that I would not sleep in a tent with him again until he was old enough to go alone with Daddy and have a good experience so I would know it could in fact be done.

Well, last night was the big test. Hubby took him to Weldon Springs for the night and they did have a great bonding time together.

Here's the pup tent big enough for just the two of them:

Developing a fascination for campfires:

Making friends with some beavers:

And of course, pretending they are biting his finger:

Spontaneous

2009-09-11T05:07:00.003-06:00

I am not a spontaneous person. I like to plan, organize, and calculate. The thought of spontaneity makes me break out in hives. Well, maybe it's not that bad but I really do like a plan.

So you can imagine my distress when a friend of mine from college called me at 3:30 pm yesterday and said, "Hey, wanna come to a Point of Grace/Mark Schultz concert tonight in Decatur at 6:15?" She had won 6 tickets just that day.

Ordinarily I would have said no, thank you. In fact I almost did tell her no right away. But I told her I would call her back in ten minutes, thinking to myself, "I'll be calling you back in ten minutes after I think of some good reason not to come."

The strangest thing happened though. I couldn't think of a good reason. The best I could come up with is, "My husband needs to mow the yard." Wow. That would be a really lame reason to miss a concert.

Now, if it was just any old concert, I probably would have used that excuse. (Yikes, that's pretty sad, huh?) But this was not just a concert. She not only had to tickets to the concert, she had V.I.P. passes to MEET the artists backstage before the concert.

I do love Mark Schultz but the big draw for me was Point of Grace. I have this nostalgic link to them because they were so big during my college years. I'm embarrassed to share this story but my first memory of Point of Grace is riding in my now husband's '72 chevelle on the way to the Christian Campus House Barn Dance somewhere out in the country. We were really just friends then so I was in the back seat with another girl-friend of mine and his buddy was in the front seat.

We had the Point of Grace tape in (yes, TAPE, that's how long ago this was) and had "Keep the Candle Burning" cranked up. I remember seeing my hubby and his buddy rockin' out to the music, thinking, "Wow, I'm so impressed that they are secure enough in their masculinity to do a little head bobbin' to Point of Grace!" So impressed in fact that I married him!

Anyway, the concert was awesome and I felt totally cool (and yet totally immature that I felt totally cool) wearing my V.I.P pass. We got to meet them and they signed our passes and got our pictures taken with them. They seemed like they felt just about as awkward as we did about the whole thing.

But it was a great night of entertainment and just goes to show you that sometimes, just maybe, there are legitimate reasons for being spontaneous.

Rite of Passage

2009-08-25T12:31:00.004-06:00

Today was the big day. First day of Pre-school. W is in the Bumblebee class and has been so excited about going for a very long time. We have been telling him, "when you get a little bigger you can go, buddy." So this morning when he woke up and we told him today was the day, he said, "I grew big enough, now!"

He did great and didn't seem phased at all that I was just dropping him off and not staying with him. He did ask when we came out after pre-school if I had stayed at the school though and seemed surprised that I had ventured off "school-grounds."

I thought we might have a bit of a problem when we walked into his classroom and there were no trains in sight. At the open house a few months ago, he'd gotten to play in a different classroom with a train table and has been talking about it all summer. He pointed out to me right away when we went into his room that there were no trains in this room. But he was sure to reassure me afterwards that they did indeed go to another room where he did get to play with trains.

He told me all about what they did, what they ate, what they played with. His favorite part was the fish and said he might get to feed the fish if he goes back to preschool again.

It seems very strange to me that we have moved from having a toddler and baby to having a pre-schooler and toddler! What was even more strange was having 2 1/2 hours with just L. We went to Wal-mart and came home to play for a bit. Of course she spent most of the morning playing in W's room with all the things that he never lets her play with. We took a walk before going to pick up W and she's obviously not used to such a peaceful morning because I don't think this has EVER happened before:

Protector

2009-07-11T20:37:00.002-06:00

Ever hear those stories about how somebody decides at the last minute not to get on a plane for one reason or another only to find out later the plane crashed or something horrible happened? Well, here's one to add to the list.

S is camping/canoeing with some guys this weekend. He's been planning the trip for a couple weeks now, finding the best place to camp, the cheapest canoe rental place, and so on. He finally settled with S.V. canoe rentals and made reservations for today at 10 to do a 15 mile canoe float.

Before he left he gave me the names of the place they were staying and the name of this canoe place just in case I would need it for any reason. Last night I guess he decided to call one more canoe rental place and discovered they had some availability and although they charged $1 more per person he decided to change his reservation and go with this other place.

Now, if you know my husband at all, you know where he can save even one dollar, he will. So for him to go with a "more expensive" canoe rental place is quite unusual especially since he really didn't have any reason to change his reservations.

The float went well and other than having to hide under rock during a thunderstorm they made it back to camp with no problem. When they were returning the canoe he discovered from one of the women who worked at the canoe rental place that the S.V. canoe rental business had a serious bus accident that day.

If you know anything about canoeing you know that usually they load a bus up with people at the start of the day, transport all the canoes upstream and drop off the people to begin their float. Apparently this particular bus had lost it's brakes, careened into the forest and flipped over. The woman telling my husband this said it took every ambulance in the area to respond to the scene of the accident.

Now I don't know if my hubby and crew would have ended up on this particular bus had they stuck with their reservation at S.V. canoes. I don't even know the specifics of the severity of the accident. (I tried finding a newslink but I'm assuming news doesn't travel real fast in this neck of the woods.)

But I do know that these words keep echoing in my mind..."The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge." Psalm 18:2

After today's events, I think I can buy into that.

Guess who that is...

2009-07-01T13:38:00.000-06:00

I never knew I married such a celebrity...check it out...

L somersaults 2009

2009-06-11T19:34:00.001-06:00

Every once in a while she gets in one of these moods and we were FINALLY able to get the camera out in time to capture it.

w reading 2009

2009-06-08T21:56:00.001-06:00

We have developed quite the bedtime ritual as of late. Clearly this is his FAVORITE book right now and we have read it so many times that he has memorized almost the whole book.

Neglected

2009-05-27T17:43:00.002-06:00

I don't really know why I never blog anymore. It's definitely not like life is any more boring than ever before, in fact it is probably more the opposite. As W and L get older and nap less I find myself with less and less time to reflect, write and actually finish a project I start. I have about half a dozen blogs entries started in the cue and by the time I get back to finishing them, I think, "Why was I writing about this? What else was I going to say?" Anyway, maybe the key is to keep blog entries short and sweet.

So following that inspiration here's another short list of some of W's words that make me smile:

-"Peanut-apple"-pineapple. Usually said this way when I encourage him to clean his plate: "But mommy, I can't like peanut-apple!"
-"Michael-cycle"-Motorcycle. Uncle J stopped by one day on his motorcycle and ever since then W talks about his "michael-cycle." I can't tell where this came from because he does have an Uncle Michael but he's not the one who owns the motorcycle. I don't know-it's just too cute.
-"Punk"-said at the top of his lungs while swinging, "MOMMY! LOOK! I PUNK MY LEGS!" (this cute-ness factor is multiplied because he thinks pumping your legs means just holding them out straight in front of you.)

Spring Choir Concert

2009-04-01T20:30:00.001-06:00

W is the one wearing the striped polo. He was a pro at the motions but the only words he opened his mouth for were the "chomp, chomp, chomp" of the gator!

Swim lessons

2009-03-27T14:03:00.001-06:00

TREMENDOUS improvement from the first night!

She just makes me laugh

2009-03-27T13:21:00.001-06:00

2009 Skiing

2009-03-15T21:16:00.001-06:00

Our future olympian...

Random mementos

2009-02-12T14:35:00.002-06:00

I am a person who likes a certain amount of neatness and order in her home. I think God must know I needed to lighten up a little bit on this issue and having kids has definitely helped me do that. Since L has officially entered toddlerhood I find random objects in the most interesting of places. Usually about once or twice a day while she's sleeping I go through the house and try to make sense of where she thought things belonged. I can't help but sigh and smile at what she left in her wake...

Just in case we needed some viewfinder entertainment while getting some relief... (and yes those are tiny pieces of torn up toilet paper on my bathroom floor-they have become a permanent fixture in our bathroom)

Toothbrush on the end table in the living room...

CD in the printer...

Beloved "Lambie" taking a nap in the dog bed...

And finally, I've decided our floor must be growing socks because I can't tell you how many I find each day in various parts of the house...

And that's just from one day! Whew!

My googled images

2009-01-23T21:21:00.011-06:00

So I got tagged to do this and it ended up being pretty fun...

My age

Best friend

Current pet

First job

Favorite food

One of my favorite places

Birthplace

Current place of residence

What I'm doing right now

Favorite animal

Favorite object

Past love

Place I want to go

Place I've been

Nickname (former)

Favorite color

Who I tag

More of my boy

2009-01-23T20:44:00.004-06:00

W seems to be adding new words to his vocabulary everyday. We have to be VERY careful what we say as he "parrots" everything. S often calls me "babe" and the other day W was mousing around performing for me and he said, "Watch this, BABE!"

It makes life easier in a lot of ways now that he can communicate with words. As his speech gets more and more clear there are fewer frustrating times trying to interpret what he's just said. There are still quite a few words though that he gets confused about and although we're working on them, part of me finds them so endearing that I'll be a little sad when he finally gets them right.

Here's a few more W-isms:

"Yester-year"- A period referring to any time in the past, ranging from 3 minutes ago to over a year ago.

"Nose-balls"-Snowballs

"What-not"-spoken as a question, actually meaning "why not?" (We hear this in response to our "no" A LOT)

Teddy Bear Picnic

2009-01-22T21:45:00.005-06:00

I took W on a special mommy-son date to the Teddy Bear Picnic at the library last weekend. It was quite an adventure complete with a bear hunt, bear story, visit from Pooh Bear, and of course W's favorite-bear food (honey sandwich and teddy grahams). He had a great time and here's some pics from our day...

Feeding Teddy...

One

2009-01-10T14:52:00.003-06:00

It's been harder than I thought it would be watching my baby girl turn one. When W turned 1 it felt like it had been a year. A year of learning, growing, watching him develop. But for some reason this past year feels like a blink of an eye! I guess it's because I've been more busy caring for two. Of course I've still done the learning, growing, watching her develop but it's felt like it's all been in fast forward. As excited as I am about watching her grow up a little more each day, part of me is really sad that my baby isn't a baby anymore.

It's been a while since I've done a list here and in honor of her big first birthday I thought I'd list some of my favorites about her/this past year etc...

-She adores her older brother. W has definitely entered the "I'm-a-high-energy-goofy-little-boy-who-thinks-it's-fun-to-be-as-loud-as-possible-and-repeat-silly-behaviors-over-and-over" phase. Thank goodness L laughs hysterically at him because I just can't bring myself to after the 9th time!

-Her sweet little independent spirit. She is so good about playing on her own and I love to watch her determination as she "works" at playing with toys.

-Her dimple.

-The way she nuzzles into me and sucks her thumb when she's tired.

-The growling noise she makes when she's eating like she just can't get the food in her mouth fast enough.

-Her flexibility. She has been so accommodating when her routine has to be changed and I just have been amazed at how easy it's been to postpone mealtimes or naptimes if we have to for one reason or another.

-The way she crawls/toddles (whichever she is choosing at the moment) as fast as she can towards S when he walks in the door after work almost as if she knows she's got to compete with two other people and a gigantic dog for his attention.

-That God is letting me borrow her for a while and revel in every detail He designed in her.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl.

I've been BAPTIZED!

2008-12-23T19:51:00.003-06:00

I had an interesting first experience today at work. About 10 minutes before the end of one of my counseling sessions I began hearing what sounded like a drip coffee maker brewing coffee right above my head. This would ordinarily not be that unusual except for the fact that there is no second floor above the office I use, nor do I have a drip coffee maker in my office. I did a double take the louder it got thinking to myself, "that is really not a sound I've ever heard before in here and I hope my client doesn't notice that I'm totally not paying attention to a word they are saying as I'm looking around the room for a surprise coffee drink waiting for me."

The next thing I knew my tranquil, safe counseling room had been transformed into a tropical rainforest, complete with water pouring through the ceiling tiles and soggy insulation dangling from the ceiling. If my chair had been 6 inches to the right I would have had a nice little pool right in my lap. I leaped up and grabbed a garbage can to catch as much of the water as I could. Imagine trying to contain water from a fire hose with a teaspoon--this is a similar picture of what good work my garbage can was doing. Soon the church staff came to my rescue and we all had a good laugh about the whole thing. I've always wondered what it looks like when a pipe freezes and bursts, and now I know first hand.

One of the hardest things for me about counseling is knowing how and when to gently end a session. I try to stick to a 50 minute session so I can be sure to have a few minutes to transition between clients. But sometimes it's just very awkward ending a session when a client very clearly is not ready to gather themselves and walk out of the room. It's a good thing this particular client had a sense of humor and could laugh about this. I definitely didn't have to state the obvious at the end of this session, "Well, I think our time is up!"

Winter Wonderland

2008-12-20T14:39:00.002-06:00

We woke up to find some limbs like this one down in our yard Friday morning. Our power was out from about 2 am to 6 am. You never realize how quiet a house can be until the power is out. The water heater, the furnace, humidifiers all create a blanket of noise that is so comforting to sleep under. I was laying awake (because who can sleep in total silence?!) listening to car after car spin their wheels at the stop sign next to us and hoping none would careen into our house. Then I was hearing the tree branches crack and fall-from the way it sounded I thought the whole tree was falling into our house.

I thought they looked kinda cool in our yard but S is already out there picking them all up. If anybody needs some firewood or kindling let us know!

Visiting Santa

2008-12-15T21:20:00.002-06:00

We went to visit Santa when he came to the Library last week and apparently W was still terrified of those spankings Santa gives out so he was NOT interested in sitting on his lap. We opted for the family pic instead. Even poly pants in winter static don't cling as tightly as W was clinging to Daddy!

Scared

2008-11-24T18:18:00.002-06:00

As heard at our dinner table this evening...

W: "I'm scared."
S: "Why?"
W: "Because Jesus and Santa spank people."

Clearly we have some work to do in the area of differentiating disciplinarian authorities.

One down...

2008-11-22T13:50:00.002-06:00

Woo hoo! S passed his first licensing exam today and we are SO relieved! He's been studying for over a month now and it's been kind of consuming our time and mental energy. He'll actually receive two licenses, one for Life Insurance and one for Accident and Health Insurance. This will enable him to write policies and is the first big hurdle he's tackled in his new job. What a great thing to be thankful for this week!

Halloween

2008-11-04T13:52:00.002-06:00

We spent most of the end of October sick and battling colds but I was glad by Halloween we all seemed to be on the mend. L is on an antibiotic so I'm hoping she can get over this stuff that she's had off and on for almost two months now! Halloween was fun and W was really starting to "get it" this year. Someone gave him a Halloween pencil trick-or-treating and he kept trying to give it back to all the houses they went to after that. Only candy please!

Here are my little creatures...

November

2008-11-04T13:37:00.006-06:00

Can it really be November already? October was such a blur I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last blogged!

We took a trip to Iowa as a family mid-October. My friend was getting married and I was her bridesmaid so we made a little getaway of it and spent a few days doing fun family stuff before the wedding. We had a nice time although unfortunately I got the stomach flu the day of the wedding and was pretty bummed about not getting to celebrate the way I'd expected to. Every wedding has a "glitch" so I guess it was better me than the bride!

Here's our day at the zoo...

We went to a place called Go Bananas! It's kind of like a glorified Chuck E. Cheese and W LOVED it...

3 Years

2008-10-09T05:27:00.000-06:00

Psalm 139:13-16

Happy Birthday!

2008-10-05T14:26:00.003-06:00

W has been asking for a dinosaur birthday for over a month now. I don't know where he came up with that as we have nary a dinosaur in our home but his wish was granted and now our house is overrun with dinosaurs! We celebrated last night with S' side and he was thrilled with our party!

One of the more special presents he'll receive this year was from Grandpa. He spent this past month restoring his childhood 1956 Farmall red pedal tractor for W. We've been riding it every day since he got it and I can tell it's already a favorite.

Together for Lincoln

2008-09-28T13:35:00.009-06:00

There are times when I get irritated living in such a small community. The resistance to change and economic development, the lack of entertainment, the absence of a shopping mall...ahem...sometimes a girl just needs some quick window browsing therapy and having to drive 40 minutes to get it is such a drag.

But there are other times when I realize how extremely fond of living in Lincoln I've become. It's quaint, relatively safe, people are friendly and there are lots of good things about living in a small town. In fact, I think I can say sometimes I'm downright proud of Lincoln.

Today is definitely one of those days.

Our church, along with 10 others, has organized a community wide service project day where individuals from all over the community are coming together to serve people and show the love of Christ through their actions. They have close to 100 service projects lined up with more than 800 people signed up to participate in volunteering. All kinds of things are happening today from building wheelchair ramps to visiting nursing homes to cleaning hard to reach areas of homes for people who just can't reach there anymore. It has received such a positive response that I'm certain it will become an annual event.

S is a project leader for a woman who needs some painting and staining done on her home. That means my role today is to be home with the kiddos. I have to admit, honestly I was a little resentful when we left for church this morning realizing that I had to give up hubby for the day and for me this would just be another day. But then our preacher gave an inspiring message about unity and serving others. Then they played this song while flashing pictures of various sites around Lincoln up on the screen and I got all teary and warm and proud of what was happening today.

When W and I were eating lunch we heard people talking outside and he asked, "What's that mom?" I got up to look and saw a group of people I'd never seen before picking up trash on our street. Their ages ranged from what looked like about 4 years old to middle age and I instantly got excited about what an impact this project could have on our community. Not just on the people being served, but on the people serving. I got excited about teaching my children why we do what we do on this day every year. I got excited to serve alongside others from different faith backgrounds for one unified purpose: showing the love of Christ to others.

Lincoln, I'm proud of you.

Busy

2008-09-24T18:44:00.004-06:00

This is what I mean when I say she's "into everything!"

What a sweet busy season of life this is.

Dedicate a Day

2008-09-22T08:08:00.000-06:00

As part of Hearts at Home Blog Tour during the month of September I'd like to republish a previous post I wrote after going to their National Conference two years ago. I had to miss it this past year as it was shortly after the birth of our daughter so I'm already getting antsy for next year's conference. The past few weeks have been a bit defeating dealing with sick kids and a toddler in the throes of terrible 2's/3's. I am more than eager to fill up on a little mommy encouragement in March at the 2009 Conference!

I went to a conference last Friday called Hearts at Home. It was a really nice day for these reasons:

the car ride up and back with my friend E
spending all day with my sis and getting her undivided attention (i'm still the baby, ok?) (by the way, check out her new business venture)
crying through the first song (they really shouldn't make you cry within the first 15 min. of the day)
laughing my head off during our first workshop. The speaker was hysterical
learning that no matter what I deal with as a mom, some other mom has been there, done that and can often provide encouragement for the journey.

Redemption

2008-09-08T20:20:00.005-06:00

In applying for new health insurance for S's new job we were asked to give detailed account of any medical treatment we have had in the last FIVE YEARS.

Excuse me?

FIVE YEARS?! I can't even remember the last time I had 8 continuous hours of sleep, let alone every medical detail anyone in our family has experienced in the last FIVE YEARS!

Not only did they want to know dates, procedures, diagnoses, they wanted to know medications, dosages and frequency of medications. Surprisingly it wasn't quite as hard as I thought it might be and the specifics I couldn't remember I just guessed.

We filled out our application online and apparently even that did not provide enough detail because I received a call a few days later from an underwriter wanting more information about several conditions we had reported on our app.

One of the issues she wanted more info on was our infertility, specifically the endometriosis I had treatment for. What had been done, when, what results occurred, what subsequent treatments have been done, any recurrence...? She asked me several questions more than once. There are certain times in my life now when I have a hard time believing we went through all that. It seems like such a long ago period of our life when I see my squealing toddler running through the house and cuddle my little baby girl.

That's why I was caught so off guard by my emotional reaction to all her questions. I had to bite my lip several times through our conversation to keep from crying. I felt like once again my privacy was being violated by a complete stranger wanting to know the ins and outs of my painful past in order to make a judgement on paper as to my health condition. I wanted to scream, "THIS IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" and hang up. I just kept wondering through the rest of the day if that dark period of my life will ALWAYS follow me.

And yet our sermon at church Sunday was a perfect reminder to me about the value of remembering our past when living in today. How can we really appreciate the power of redemption without remembering what we are redeemed from? As long ago as our years of infertility seem, they have greatly influenced who I've become today with a heart for hurting people. God has worked His redemption through my life in so many ways: healing my empty womb to allow me to carry children, healing my heart from the pain of my past, healing my soul that would otherwise be destitute and hopeless without Him.

Maybe God knew I needed that phone call from an unknowing underwriter to remind me of His Great Power in my life.

Happy 25 years DM!

2008-09-01T19:25:00.004-06:00

Discovery Ministries is a wilderness adventure camp that S interned at two summers in college. They were celebrating their 25 year anniversary this weekend so we took the fam to enjoy the festivities. Here are a few hi-lites...

W and Daddy rock-climbing

L rock-climbing (don't worry mom-S's holding her, you just can't see it in the pic)

W liked swinging better than climbing!

Alley Springs...gorgeous scenery

Daddy and W discovering

Stylin!

Change

2008-08-08T12:03:00.004-06:00

I've discovered that I am quite a creature of habit. I thrive on routine and love knowing what to expect from my day, my week, my future. That's why the most recent change in our lives is such a biggie for us.

As of the beginning of October S will be resigning from his position at LCC and will go to work for Brad Neal, a financial planner here in town. Six months ago we set up an appointment to have him take a look at our retirement, life insurance, etc. Apparently from that meeting S made such a good impression on Brad that he began pursuing him to come work for him.

S will be assisting Brad with various duties and tasks involved in the business and will begin working on further education to get the licenses he needs for the job. S really liked what he did at LCC and we've always said if he were to leave there, God would have to drop something in his lap. I never imagined that would actually happen!

It has been a mix of fear, sadness and excitement as we've made this decision. I love lists so here we go:

What excites us about this opportunity:

-Brad is a Christian and views his work as a ministry. He serves a lot of ministers and missionaries and provides affordable services for people like us who live on a tight budget. S is excited to be able to help people stretch what God has given them and save for their future.

-We've heard nothing but positive things about Brad. I've been amazed at how many unsolicited comments we've heard from people lately about what a man of integrity he is.

-It fits so well with S's giftedness. He has such a business mind and is so good with all things finance. And yet his gentle, genuine, patient spirit is so beneficial when working with people so it's a perfect blend for this type of job.

-The sky's the limit! There is so much potential for professional and personal growth as he continues learning and developing.

-God has affirmed every step of this process. We kept praying that He would send up red flags or close doors if this was not supposed to happen. Every time we prayed that, He just kept opening one more door until finally we felt like He was pushing us through it!

-Brad has been so specific in relieving our fears and worries. We've had several candid conversations with he, his wife and his secretary and all our concerns have been answered and put to rest.

Of course we are sad about not being quite as connected to the community at LCC as we have been. Sometimes I wonder why it seems that God is separating us from so many of our friends right now. But we feel confident that this is the new journey God has marked for us and it's time for us to embark.

Keep us in mind if you ever need some insurance or financial planning!

The Case of the Missing Underwear

2008-08-07T19:54:00.002-06:00

W is two and a half, recently potty trained and a boy. All those factors combined means that I have long ago quit battling trying to get him to wear clothing on the bottom half of his body when he doesn't want to. It destroys my serenity and I never win anyway.

So yesterday after lunch was no different than most days when he ran screaming from the bathroom after going potty but before putting his underwear back on. Knowing the futility of engaging in the chase, I half-heartedly threw his underwear at him as I walked through the living room and returned to the kitchen to finish my lunch.

A few minutes later after a noticeably mysterious silence he entered the kitchen (still pant-less) saying, "Mommy? More pants? Mommy? More pants?" Figuring he was finally ready to cover his derrière I went searching for the underwear only to discover them completely out of sight.

After checking all the usual hiding spots: under the couches, behind the pillows, in the toilet, I began wondering if now we had added a new twist to our daily ritual. However, as I continued searching, it was not snickering and giggling I heard from W (as I'd expected to hear) but instead an increasingly feverish, "Mommy? Where pants go? MOMMY?! WHERE PANTS GO?!" The poor kid really didn't know what he had done with his underwear and in typical toddler fashion, because he COULDN'T have
them, he wanted them NOW!

I finally convinced him that a new pair of Lightning McQueen pants would just have to do until the mystery pair decided to show themselves. A few minutes later Super Sleuth Detective Daddy sauntered into the living room and casually said, "What's that lump under the carpet?"

Under the area rug in our living room, smack dab in the middle, lay a little lump of toddler undies.

Don't ask me how they got there.

Don't ask me how he could not have known where they had gone.

But let me tell you...you would have thought we had just found a million dollars under our carpet from the way that little boy reacted.

So we have officially decided...no more presents at birthday or Christmas. All we need to bring excitement to our child is an area rug and a long lost pair of underpants.

Goodbye

2008-07-07T17:53:00.004-06:00

I've never been very good at saying goodbye. Apparently God thinks now is a good time for me to get better at it because I've been having to do it a lot lately. Our friends and youth minister who we've worked with for 7 years are moving to Kansas. Hubbie's long-time childhood friend and his wife are moving to Taiwan. My closest friend here in town with whom I share a deep heart connection is getting married and moving out of state. Of course we're happy about all of these exciting transitions our friends get to make but being the ones left behind isn't exactly fun.

I'm also stepping out of my position counseling at Living Hope so I can add a second day counseling with Lincoln Pastoral. It just makes sense to not make the drive anymore with gas prices being what they are. Plus I'll be able to spend more time at home with my kids which is where my heart is primarily invested at anyway.

It's been harder than I thought it would be to say goodbye to my clients there. For some of my long-term clients, although our relationship has been professional, it's been intimate. Sharing dark corners of your life with someone brings an element of vulnerability to even the most clinical of relationships.

I've been a little surprised at how awkward many of my "last sessions" have been. I'd gotten so used to saying, "See you in a week," that I wasn't sure what to say instead. "Have a good life" seems just a bit too final. But for many, it will be the last time I see them in this life.

Part of the privilege I've had in working at Living Hope is that many of my clients are Christians. It has been such a blessing to be able to pray with and for my clients, wrestle with tough spiritual issues and consult the Holy Spirit together when we're stuck.

As awkward as it is saying goodbye to these clients it's comforting to know that the Great Counselor is still very much a part of their lives. I feel a sense of peace in knowing that perhaps the next time I see these people, I won't see broken, wounded souls. I'll see them made new, complete, whole. Free from trauma, liberated from binding habits, made perfect by the blood of Christ.

"See you in a new life..."

I love CVS

2008-07-07T17:40:00.003-06:00

OK, so it's time for me to go public with my little addiction as of late. My friend tipped me off to this blog that details how, through doing some clever couponing, you can get great, no, impossibly amazing, deals at CVS. I've never really liked our CVS because it's old and dingy and the lighting is scary but we're getting a brand new building and after learning "the system" I'm totally addicted to the deals I've been getting there.

For example, I got everything in the below pic for...

drumroll please...

40 CENTS! Yes, you read it right folks, 40 cents. It takes some time and research to figure out how to do this but if you're curious you have to check it out!

More recent pics of the kiddos...

2008-06-25T10:31:00.002-06:00

Too funny

2008-06-02T20:53:00.001-06:00

As seen on the advertisement board outside our local hardware store:

"TOILET BLOW OUT SALE"

Tell me that's not funny.

I wish God had podcasts

2008-05-23T20:24:00.002-06:00

Wouldn't that be great?
Going for that morning jog or walk and need something to keep your mind occupied? Headed for that long commute to work? Need His advice in making a difficult decision? Want to tune out a screaming toddler? Waiting for reassurance that everything is going to be OK?
Just download today's podcast, sync up to ipod and go!
If only, huh?

My new book

2008-05-16T13:37:00.004-06:00

Pottytraining has a way of making you feel like you are the most incompetent parent in the world. Really. I've taught him how to eat, how to walk, and he's even getting pretty darn good at saying the alphabet. How hard can it be to teach someone that their pee and poop go in the toilet, not in their pants?
I wake up in the morning actually dreading the day because of the battles I know I'm going to face that day from the time he wakes up in the morning to the time he goes to bed. Oh the DRAMA: the whining, the crying, the temper tantrums.
And then there's all the carrying on that W does too!
I'm not proud of what I have resorted to over the course of the past two weeks to get this child with an iron will to sit on the potty. You name it, I've bribed with it.
Last night after I had vented my frustrations at full blast to hubby I was trying to unwind with some parental reading before bed. He looked at me and said, "Why do you read books like that before bed? It just makes you feel bad because our kids don't do what the book says they should be doing and then you don't sleep."
Oh wise one. How true are your words.
So we decided we are going to write a book about all the terrible, frustrating, abnormal things kids do so that moms out there like me actually feel better about their own kids after they read it. Anyone care to contribute?

Mad TV Bob Newhart Skit - Mo Collins - Stop it

2008-05-06T17:12:00.001-06:00

I went to a workshop today on Motivational Interviewing: Overcoming Client Resistance to Change. This video is what we learned NOT to do.

The Item

2008-04-27T19:09:00.004-06:00

Garage sales are a funny thing. Every year my sister has a garage sale along with several other families from her neighborhood. Throughout the year I stow away items that we don't use anymore, don't like anymore or have been replaced by the bigger, better and newer version. In the weeks before her sale I dig out all the tubs I've been stowing in and go through it to price things and try to make my junk look at least somewhat attractive. I always find it amazing how many picture frames I pull out of those tubs. I'm beginning to think they mate and multiply in the dark confines of their Rubbermaid tubs.
The saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure" is proven correct every year at this sale. There always seems to be at least one Item that I nearly throw away as I pull it from the tubs thinking, there's no way someone is really going to buy this...and I'm pretty embarrassed to even include it among my trash. But then I remember the previous year's Item and I slap a ridiculous price on it just to see if this year will follow suit with all the others.
This year The Item was...drumroll please...a bag of used pacifiers. Now let me explain before you think I'm totally sick and truly just out to make a buck. Well, I might be out to make a buck, but I'm not totally sick. Neither of my kids ever liked pacifiers. W preferred his thumb from birth, much to my dismay. No pacifier ever stayed in his mouth for longer than the time it took for him to effectively stain any outfit I ever wore as soon as I picked him up, which was about two seconds. We tried about 6 different types of pacifiers with him, all were adamantly refused. I saved them for baby #2 which she clearly did not appreciate. I couldn't even get them in her mouth because of the superior tongue thrust she developed when I'd come within two feet of her mouth with one. We even bought about 4 more different kinds until finally she will at least occasionally tolerate one type. (I think she really only takes it to pacify me!) Of course it's the biggest ugliest pacifier on the market. No little pink bling-bling pacifiers for my sweetie.
All this to say, this bag of pacifiers had hardly been used so after conferring with my sister about whether or not to actually try to sell these I slapped $2 on them and sheepishly pulled them out the morning of the sale.
Less than an hour later someone came up to me and said, "Are these $2 each?" I'm embarassed to say I actually was trying to read whether or not she'd be willing to pay $2 each before I told her the truth and pocketed her $2. It just goes to show you never know what someone might be willing to buy. Now I can rest assured knowing the pacifier frustrations I endured have come to peace and some other little suckling mouth might find comfort in ways my children couldn't.
I just hope she sterilizes them.

Check it out

2008-04-10T13:06:00.005-06:00

: OK, I found these two websites that are just so cool I have to share with y'all. First is e-mealz. It's a meal-planning service that provides you weekly meal plans complete with shopping lists based on which grocery store you usually do your shopping at. Since they base the meals on what's on sale that week at your store you save money, not to mention the time of not having to think up what you are going to make for dinners that week. If you're like me I HATE planning meals and have been known to sit at the kitchen table for an hour staring at my recipe box trying to plan meals. So if you're the cook in your family, check it out.
Also, check out pandora. It's a music website that creates a radio station playlist for you based on what your favorite artists or songs are. You just type in what your favorite artist is and it starts playing songs by that artist or by different artists that have a similar sound. I can't be on my computer anymore without listening to it, it's fabulous!
Anyway, just a couple fun things I wanted to share.

Rose

2008-03-29T11:51:00.003-06:00

The age old question of "Why do bad things happen to good people?" is pounding in my head this week. My friend delivered a stillborn baby this weekend after her water broke at 21 weeks gestation. I have found myself wrestling with all the stages of grief as I've been reading the updates on what they have had to deal with. My friends gave their baby the middle name Rose and I've been reflecting on what a perfectly symbolic name that is for suffering such a major loss.
With spring coming all the stores have been advertising rose bushes and it has been a constant reminder to me to pray for my friends. I was thinking about how a rose bush is such an appropriate metaphor for tough life situations. They look so prickly and ugly in the stores. You wonder how something so stubby and rough could ever produce something beautiful. But when you take a rose bush home, plant it, care for it, nurture it, from it comes a gorgeous, fragrant, breathtaking flower. Sure it will always have it's thorns. Adversity always leaves scars, painful memories. But the flower, the beauty that comes from those prickly stems is what people stop to notice.

2008-02-11T09:23:00.000-06:00

Just a couple pics of the reasons I haven't blogged in a while!

Baby Girl

2008-01-22T16:02:00.000-06:00

Well, the newest member of our family has arrived! She came two weeks early and it is so strange to me thinking I could still be pregnant right now. Even though it's only been a week since she was born it's already hard to remember what life was like without her. Life feels a little unbalanced after the arrival of a newborn. And yet in other ways life has never felt more balanced. Every day brings new realizations of the losses and gains that ripple through our family because of a tiny 6 lb baby.

What I've lost:
-some sleep
-temporary use of my stomach muscles
-some weight
-some "me" time
-being able to give W my undivided attention
-my previous daily routine

But more importantly, what I've gained:
-pink, pink and more pink
-joy in watching W show unprompted physical affection towards his baby sister
-a fierce desire to protect and provide for my children
-a new respect for hubby as he shows a charming tenderness towards his baby girl
-a sense of completeness
-a renewed awe of God's creativity that can only come from gazing at the tiny fingers of a newborn
-a tremendous responsibility that I can only carry with the help of our Great Creator.

The Natural

2008-01-04T09:44:00.001-06:00

Daily

2007-12-24T21:47:00.001-06:00

My friends J&A have a photo blog called "Not As Daily." Tonight I was reflecting on things that feel very daily and things that feel not so daily. I like the not so daily things much better. Here's my thoughts on the differences:

Things that feel very daily:
-washing my face and flossing my teeth
-saying no and finding a fun distraction when W asks to watch Elmo again(actually that's more like 23 times daily)
-trying to think of healthy things to serve for meals that all of us would like to eat
-hunting for W's fuzzy (his blanket that he can't do without and often leaves in remote corners of the house)
-figuring out what W and I (and sometimes hubby) should wear

Things that feel not so daily:
-being underbudget on my Wal-Mart bill
-hearing a client say, "You know, something we talked about last week really made me think differently about..."
-catching up with old friends when it feels like no time has passed at all since we've seen each other last
-watching the reflections of the round, gold communion trays dance on the vaulted ceilings of our church during a warm and glowing Christmas eve service
-watching W imitate us by pretending to drink juice from our empty plastic communion cups knowing that in some way he is already participating in worshiping Jesus
-having trouble sleeping on Christmas Eve even after all these years

Merry Christmas and blessings in your New Year!

W-isms

2007-12-22T13:00:00.000-06:00

Just thought I'd share a couple W stories that have made us chuckle the past couple days. Stacy brought home the cartoon version of Narnia and although W didn't seem all that interested he must have been particularly impressed with the scene where Aslan goes around breathing life into the characters turned into stone by the witch. We saw him yesterday going around to a bunch of inanimate objects in our house putting his mouth close to them and making a growling/breathing noise on them. How disappointing it must have been to him that the refrigerator did not in fact come to life!
We've also been working on prepping him for the baby coming next month. We'll talk about the baby, pretend with a play baby and read stories about being a big brother. Then today at breakfast hubby asked him, "W, do you want a baby brother or a baby sister?" He paused, said, "hmmm..." Then he pointed to our dog and said, "I want doggy!" Uh oh. He could be in for quite a surprise.

Little White Hook

2007-12-01T22:11:00.000-06:00

We live in a small house. It is tight, it is often cramped and there are some days that I think I will tear my hair out having to look at our full to the brim closets. But it is also very cozy, very warm and I love it. We renovated the house when we moved in so the flooring, paint, cabinets, hardware, etc. is all stuff I got to pick out. It has become home in a way that makes me feel safe, comfortable and I know I will grieve when and if we do move into a bigger house someday.
For example, the bathroom. There is only one and it is not much bigger than a postage stamp. I can reach all four walls while sitting on the toilet. Hubby installed something today that seems insignificant and most people would never notice: a tiny white plastic towel hook on the back of our already white bathroom door. It blends in so well you'd think it's been there for years. But as I brushed my teeth tonight before bed, it caught my eye and suddenly that bathroom felt smaller than ever before.
You see, the reason we installed that hook is because we only had three spots to hang bath towels before. Two towel rods that he and I hang our towels on, and another hook to hang W's towel on. We've been saying for months now that with this new baby coming we need to install another hook for baby's towel and today for whatever reason he actually remembered to pick one up at Wal-Mart and put it up.
It's not like this is the first preparation we've made for the baby. We've been cleaning and prepping and washing and unpacking baby things for some time now. But hanging that permanent little hook on our door today made all this seem so...permanent. I can't help but take a deep breath when I think about the reality of all this. I can't help but question, "How will I handle having to divide my time between two children and a husband all with very specific needs?, How will W adapt and adjust to not being the main and only attraction anymore?, How will I adapt again to sleeping in three hour increments?, How will I get a shower every day?" If I let myself think too long about it suddenly that little white hook becomes quite intimidating.
But tonight that little white hook brought a smile to my face and a giddy-ness to my heart that can only be described as the anticipation a child has the night before Christmas morning. I know realistically that the adjustment won't always be as fun as getting to open that huge shiny present under the tree just for you. I know some days I won't get to shower. But I feel certain that the first time I hang this baby's towel on that little white hook I will be reminded of God's faithfulness, His grace and His blessing in allowing us the pleasure of needing one extra hook.

Human Tetris

2007-11-28T15:36:00.001-06:00

Saw this on Ellen the other day and thought it was so funny I had to share...

Halloween

2007-11-07T14:45:00.000-06:00

We had such a fun time this Halloween. I feel slightly guilty that I was so excited for a pagan holiday but it was just so fun to teach W about costumes and trick-or-treating and pumpkins and candy...plus it means Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner! We were at Wal-Mart over a month ago and thought we'd check out the costumes. The first aisle we went down, the first costume we saw was Elmo and when W pointed to it beaming shouting, "ELMO!" I knew it was coming home with us. But alas, when we got home he would have nothing to do with putting it on his body. He'd hug it, he'd kiss it, he'd carry it around with him but never, never would he allow us to put it on him. We had a couple brief moments over the course of the month when we'd get it over his head for about two minutes but just as soon as he put it on he'd want us to take it off him. So I had serious doubts about whether he would really be Elmo for Halloween or whether he would be a toddler dressed in red carrying an Elmo costume.
The night of Halloween I thought maybe if he saw us handing out candy at the door to kids wearing costumes he'd get the idea but even that did not have an effect on his stubborn will. Finally in desperation and in my sweetest sing-song voice I said, "W, if you put Elmo on I'll give you some yum-yum's!" (his word for m&m's) I couldn't believe how quickly he dove into that costume! Seriously, that's all it took? Why didn't I try that an hour ago? Anyway, we thought we'd test the waters by taking him across the street to our neighbor's house before driving all over Lincoln to show him off. I armed him with his little pumpkin pail that we had been using to hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters who came to visit us and he journeyed off with Daddy to learn the wonders of getting free candy. They were over there for quite a while so I began wondering what the hold up was. When they came back, hubby told me that when our neighbors held out their candy bowl, W tried putting his candy from his pail into their bowl! It didn't take him long to figure out how trick-or-treating is supposed to work though because by the time we got to the next house he was eagerly grabbing as much as his little hands would hold. We went to four or five more houses that night and I couldn't believe he left that costume on the whole night. What wonders candy can work!