This post may take all night...

...because I don't think I can spell anything in the daze I'm currently in, forcing me to backspace every couple seconds.

My in-laws took all four of their children and their respective families (10 adults, 4 children and 2 infants) away to the Great Wolf Lodge near us (ours is 3 hours from our house--apparently it's a chain) for Christmas this year.

Our rides up and back down were exciting. On the way up my husband and I witnessed a hit-and-run for the first time in either of our lives. A red pickup truck rear-ended an SUV and then took off, speeding and weaving around stop-and-go traffic. It was shocking to see and I just hope the person in the SUV was okay! And we didn't get a license number (weren't close enough), but we're hoping another witness did, or at least someone who he drove like a maniac around later. On the way home we got to drive through blizzard conditions while following someone who has driven road rallies in the snow! We had a very hard time catching up. Hubby and I were driving the other 4-wheel drive vehicle (besides my FIL's), so we brought up the rear. Our nerves were not reassured by watching the tail ends of the 2-wheel drive vehicles slide all over the place! The worst part of the drive back down was a pickup truck who sent a wave of snow over our car... essentially blinding us for a good 10 seconds on icy, snow-covered roads, nearly sending us either into the back of my brother-in-law's car or down a very tall, very steep hill. Whee!

Anyway, we got there Friday night and came home Sunday afternoon. You know you have great in-laws when you can spend an entire weekend together and not kill each other, or even really get miffed. In fact we had another Christmas party the night we got home with the same people and we were still laughing and joking. I do love my in-laws, and feel really blessed to be able to say that.

I'll apologize for no pictures. I spent the entire weekend there with all three kids at an indoor water park and did not take a single picture. I know. Bad mom! I'm in the process of asking a couple sisters-in-law for copies of the ones they took but have not gotten there yet. So maybe I'll post some later.

The kids LOVED the water park. Truly, so did I, and that's most of the reason I didn't get any pictures. I was on the rides! We had a great weekend, only slightly tampered by the fact that none of us got any sleep.

The littles were surprisingly brave! I have not yet been able to get them to slide down a slide into the pool, or even jump off the side of any pool into my arms, and they were fearlessly sliding down long water slides and hopping into the front half of inner tubes to go through dark tunnels on the tube slides. It was so much fun. I hope they decide to keep taking us there. It was an amazingly fun time. I'd go back next weekend.

So it was a fantastic start to our holiday. I think it was a great idea to create memories rather than trying to figure out so many gifts, and I'd love to see the tradition continue. Though not the part with the accidents or the blizzard.

Whoa

What an autumn we've had! Between all three girls being in classes or on teams through the rec department, a stomach bug for three of the five family members, trying to be able to volunteer in their schools, and a million appointments between the five of us, I'm way behind on here, I know.

We had a good halloween. The girls got monkey masks from their cousin's birthday party and we were brainstorming all together and came up with them being the five little monkeys jumping on the bed! S and A each carried a stuffed monkey so there'd be five of them, of course. They were cute little monkeys! They're always cute little monkeys! :) I do have a couple pictures so I'll post them soon. I hope.

Hubby started a new job. He really likes where he is right now and we're both happy with both the hours and the increase in pay... Overtime is a wonderful thing. Being able to actually get nearly 8 hours of sleep every night without having to go to bed at 8:00 is also really, really nice.

I fell off the wagon of disciplining myself both with my healthy eating and with getting up early for a little exercise. I had been trying to hold on to a little healthy thing by running 3 times a week still, but even that had to be put on a back burner this last two weeks so I could get over bronchitis. I was supposed to have a PET scan this week but we postponed it so the cold wouldn't mask the results. Anyway, I'm hoping my desire for all that comes back soon. I do feel considerably more rushed in the morning when I don't get up earlier than the kids. And I actually miss working out. I like that, that I actually miss running when I don't for too long.

This next week the kids have off school, and Hubby took off work. I hope to get at least a little relaxing in! The first part of the week will be nice, and I can't wait for the two get togethers we have on Thanksgiving. The rest of the weekend will be crazy! We are putting up our own tree and helping to decorate my parents' tree. I'm also hoping to get some black Friday shopping in, Hubby is going to our church to help decorate for Christmas, and we still have A's class and some other stuff. Crazy.

Here's where I end with a promise to do a better job of keeping up with this but that feels hokey. On the other hand, not finishing with some sort of ending feels like finishing a song on an unresolved chord. Guess we'll have to deal with it feeling unresolved. :)

Improvement

...one of the most difficult things I try to do.

It started with getting fit. I lost 20 pounds last year by finally paying attention to what I ate and actually exercising once in  a while (actually 3 times a week). Right now I'm looking more at my attitudes, and realizing that not only did my eating need more discipline, but my attitude does too. I have a volatile temper, and while I don't deny it's a learned action, now that I am an adult it is all on me to change my reactions to my life.

Wanting to get myself and my tongue under control has led to other improvements that I'd love to see popping out all over the place. I want to get up before my kids and get in some exercise and bible reading, and write out my to-do list for the day. I want to take better care of my house, keeping it cleaner and making sure it is that way before my husband is home. I want to be in better shape, controlling my tummy a bit and speeding up my 5K time. Next summer I'd like to do a sprint triathlon. I want to read my bible more, to 'pray without ceasing.' I want to make more of our meals from scratch, even my own loaf breads.

Maybe it's too much. Probably it's too much. I do this when I set out on something big a lot.

"Okay, self, we're going to clean the living room. Well, I just need to put this thing away in the bathroom, oh, the mirror needs to be windexed. And this belongs in the bedroom, oh the closet hasn't been organized in a while..." And before I know it the entire upstairs is cleaned and I don't know what happened (not that it's bad that it's clean, just an example of how I always turn a little idea into a huge project). Then the next day I'm so exhausted from all that I don't want to even get up off the couch. And then it's 3 weeks before such a blitz happens again.

I'm trying to do too much. Add to that the fact that my nature would much rather be the person who sits on the couch and lets the kids watch TV all day. My self does and does not want to improve. I'd love to be better, to be more of an example of Christ to my children. I want them to look at me, and me saying I have a relationship with God, and have that make them want to have a relationship with him too. I want them to have an example of self-control...of my temper and my time management and my care of my body. I just need to focus on one aspect of it at a time. And I'm not very good at focusing like that, naturally.

Tomorrow my one goal is to get up with my alarm. Not early; I was trying for 5:30. Tomorrow we're going for something more reasonable, 6:15. I'd love to see 5:30 on a regular basis someday, but tomorrow I'm going to slow back down and take baby steps.

Day of Encouragement

"Life is hard sometimes- Crazy, mixed-up, messed-up. And there you are, in the middle of it all, just doing your thing... being strong and brave and beautiful like it's no big deal.

But let me tell you, girl, it is. Not everyone can do what you do. Not everyone can handle things the way you can. While you wonder sometimes if you're doing OK... The rest of us are just watching in WONDER."


"Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord." Psalm 31:24 NASB

This the text from a card I got free from a blog that I follow. The ladies over at (in)courage held a giveaway where all you had to do was send them your address and be one of the first 500 to do it, and you got a free pack of cards! I sent in because the one they had advertised on the website is the one with the text and link you see above. I knew it was just perfect for a lady from my church.

Jodi had Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of the blood. MM is a cancer without a cure, all the doctors are able to do is put the patients in a remission and then monitor the cancer and wait with baited breath. Jodi has been absolutely amazing in it all.

MM is similar to Hodgkin's, which I had, in the sense that it's a cancer of the fluids of the body, and is treated most frequently with an autologous bone marrow transplant. I went through this procedure myself.

Because of this shared experience, I've had some idea of what Jodi is going through, although her experience itself was rougher than mine. Anyway, one of the things that stuck out to me about how others rallied around me during my treatment was one friend of my mom's in particular who made sure to send me funny cards. When you're in the middle of it, nice, thoughtful cards are nice but they all say the same thing. The thought is what counts, of course, but I loved those funny cards most of all. The ones that managed to be funny AND poignant were amazing, of course. 

So this card, funny AND poignant, is exactly what I've been trying hard to send to Jodi as she walks this most difficult road. I thank Dayspring and (in)courage for the opportunity to send it to her. It's written out, signed, and will, wonderfully, be in her church mailbox ON National Day of Encouragement! How great is that? What a great idea this was.

I can't believe...

...That I just sent my 2nd baby off to Kindergarten.

 I watched the bus pull away with a distinct sense of disbelief, even more so than when my oldest went.

A waved enthusiastically at me through the bus window, which made me profoundly happy, as I was fearing tears.

I know that Kindergarten will be good for her, she needs to learn to be independent of her sister. Her bus driver isn't letting S help her get to the bus she needs to switch to, and she'll spend the rest of the day by herself and it will be good for her, I know.

But I miss her! And the feeling is surprising me! Makes me wonder how I'm going to handle C's heading there next year.

She has the same teacher S had and she's such a great teacher for challenging the kids and helping them step into independence. I feel like this teacher is really what helped S know that she could handle school. I can't wait to see A get stretched and really start learning.

Of course, with only one at home I'm readjusting to the schedule. I'm going to need to start coming up with some bigger projects for myself to do during the days. Mostly with C, of course, but I'm thinking I can get some big stuff done too. Painting the hall and bathroom are pretty high on my list...

More about how school's going after we settle in for a couple days!

New Favorite Love Song

Again. The nice thing about being in love is you can really like the words to songs like this. Now, personally, I think whoever came up with the idea for the music video to this song is a dork. 'Cause it could have been so sweet, the words talk about staying together through everything, even when others said they wouldn't. And they TOTALLY RUINED IT with the video. Phew. Okay, I'm past it. For now.

I truly do love the words to this song, I feel like they speak for everyone who sticks out their marriage, to those of us who fall deeper and deeper in love with one person in a world that tells us it's okay to love many many of them. That and a 50% divorce rate has created this feeling like everyone will walk away from at least one marriage, and I love the thought of sticking it out even when everyone thought they wouldn't.

Stuck Like Glue

~Sugarland

Absolutely no one who knows me better
No one that can make me feel so good
How did we stay so long together
When everybody
Everybody said we never would
And just when I
I start to think they’re right
That love has died

There you go making my heart beat again
Heart beat again, heart beat again
There you go making me feel like a kid
Won’t you do it and do it one time
There you go pulling me right back in
Right back in, right back in
And I know I’m never letting this go
I’m stuck on you
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
Stuck like glue
You and me baby
We’re stuck like glue
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
Stuck like glue
You and me baby
We’re stuck like glue

Some days I don’t feel like trying
Some days you know I wanna just give up
When it doesn’t matter who’s right
Fight about it all night
Had enough
You give me that look
I’m sorry baby let’s make up
You do that thing that makes me laugh
And just like that

There you go making my heart beat again
Heart beat again, heart beat again
There you go making me feel like a kid
Won’t you do it and do it one time
There you go pulling me right back in
Right back in, right back in
And I know I’m never letting this go
I’m stuck on you
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
Stuck like glue
You and me baby
We’re stuck like glue
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
Stuck like glue
You and me baby
We’re stuck like glue

Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
You almost stay out
Too stuck together from the ATL
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
Feeling kinda sick
Just a spoon full of sugar make it better real quick
I say, whoa-oh, whoa-oh
What’cha gonna do with that
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
Come on over here with that
Sugar sticky sweet stuff
Come on give me that stuff
Everybody want some
Melodies that get stuck
Up in your head
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
Up in your head
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
Up in your head
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
Up in your head
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
Stuck like glue
You and me together
Say it’s all I wanna do I said

There you go making my heart beat again
Heart beat again, heart beat again
There you go making me feel like a kid
Won’t you do it and do it one time
There you go pulling me right back in
Right back in, right back in
And I know
I’m never letting this go
There you go making my heart beat again
Heart beat again, heart beat again
There you go making me feel like a kid
Won’t you do it and do it one time
There you go pulling me right back in
Right back in, right back in
And I know
I’m never letting this go
I’m stuck on you
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
Stuck like glue
You and me baby
We’re stuck like glue
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
Stuck like glue
You and me baby
We’re stuck like glue
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
Stuck like glue
You and me baby
We’re stuck like glue

Plus, it's an earworm. I hear it once and it's stuck in my head the rest of the day. Love it.


Edit: Earthworm?! Hahaha! Oops.

Yay!

Oh, cool weather! How I've missed you! At the end of the summer I start to realize that I've missed my jeans and wearing shoes that require socks and all my long sleeve shirts and not HAVING to dress in tank tops and shorts.

I love spring and fall weather when you can decide if you want to wear a tank top with jeans or long sleeves with a skirt... I get sick of flip-flops and being unable to wear jeans because I know I'll get way too hot even in air conditioning! I didn't even buy church sandals this year. I rebelled by wearing my ballet flats to church all summer. I can't wait to use my 'warm' shoes again.

Praise God for the fact that I live in a place that sees all 4 seasons. I love it when they change. I'm almost giddy getting out my jeans and all the shoes that have been tucked away all summer 'cause they look silly with shorts.

I think my kids will see it differently because even when I tell them it'll be 65 they ask if they can wear their tank tops! So maybe I'm the only one in my family who prefers this weather. That's okay. They can have their tank tops in the summer. I'll put up with it since swimming and going to the beach is fun, but I do look forward to 'my' seasons. I love spring and fall.

Why I Like Getting Up Early*

*AFTER I conquer the warmth and comfort of my bed, of course. Temptation to turn off the alarm and 'give myself a gift of sleeping in' is a daily battle.

So I've been attempting to revamp my mornings and get up long enough before my kids that I can get my heart pumping with some exercise, get into the Bible, and get my day planned out before the noise that starts as soon as they get up. Last week I fell off the wagon and slept in every single morning. It started with missing my alarm 'cause I hadn't turned it up enough. Tuesday I turned it off without hardly even waking up, and only knew it when I woke up to my kids' voices hours later. Wednesday it occurred to me after my alarm woke me that I had a 5K coming up in three days and I decided to 'gift myself' with sleeping in for the rest of the week. Wow, written out like that that looks like a lot of lame excuses.

So I was thinking that if I listed the pluses of getting myself out of bed, I may be motivating myself even more. And possibly give myself a little accountability because other people (all, what, 6 of you?  :D) will know that I am trying to change this habit.

1. Peace and Quiet.
With 3 little girls who have inherited my hubby's and my ability and desire to talk, it's not quiet for long (if at all) after they get up. Besides the pets charging around wrestling with each other, it's pretty quiet when I get up.

2. Seeing the Sunrise
There are quite a few houses around here but that doesn't stop the sun from gorgeously staining whatever clouds are in the sky. Right now the sunrise happens during my 'planning for the day' time, when I feel like I can drop what I'm doing and drink in the fact that God gave me a gorgeous sky-painting to look at.

3. Getting my Heart Pumping.
Exercise gets my body warmed up and moving. I can move on to my bible reading without worrying about coffee until later. Plus it feels good to burn off most, if not all, of breakfast before I even eat it.

4. Learning Discipline.
Eventually, this will become a habit. The blogs I'm reading that are encouraging me in this promise that eventually, it becomes something you look forward to! Seems odd to look forward to getting up early. But I do feel better on the days I've gotten enough sleep and get my self in gear before the kids invade. ;)

5. Time for Myself
Every mama learns quickly that if they don't get some time to recharge, get in touch with God, the days go horribly. I've been reminded of this many times. Eventually, the battery gets to critical levels, like my laptop did this morning, and I need to plug in. Get some time in the quiet, when I can try to hear God and get my patience built up for the day.

This is my current goal. I've been learning about myself and my relationship with God and my kids. I've learned certain things are critical for keeping my patience intact, like enough sleep. Getting up early also requires going to bed early, thus enough sleep. I hope to post more about how this goes.

Today I missed my iPod alarm but my back up on my phone did wake me up enough to notice I had slept in. It took 20 minutes of arguing with myself to get up. Of course, I had only had 5 1/2 hours sleep. Tonight, earlier to bed!

The Dictionary According to Our McLife

*But not in alphabetical order...*

Beautiful

Free

Friends

Fun

Swing

Toes 

 

Persistence

That's the world according to us these days, getting all the playing and swinging in we can on glorious days like today. And showing off our new haircuts. And learning how to ride two wheelers. Great ways to spend our evenings.

Running Headlong...

...into the new school year! It occurred to me just now that I haven't posted an update on any of my kids in quite a long time.

The biggest deal in our lives right now is that A starts Kindergarten this year. She's torn between being extremely excited and a bit apprehensive (she's our most careful). She's also undecided about whether she wants to go. S is not as excited about school starting back up, and A wants to be excited but wants to be like her big sister. Poor middle kid. :) She's been asking lots of questions and I've been careful to make sure she knows that she can ask me anything she wants. She also has the same teacher that her big sister had. S loved this teacher, and that's helping make A more excited. So that's good.

A has a lot going on! She's also learning to ride her bike with no training wheels. She's only gotten to try twice so far. I hope to get her out there practicing enough over the next couple weeks that she knows how to ride it before school starts. 

S has soccer coming up. She's very excited for the new season. I love to watch her play, but all of her games are at 8:30 and 9:30 A.M. this year! Yikes! She also has a birthday coming up. She's really looking forward to this one because being 8 means she no longer has to ride in her booster seat. I think that's the highlight of her fall! She gets to take an exercise ball to school to sit on instead of a desk chair this year. I think this is a brilliant idea by her teacher. I've also read some of the studies the teacher mentioned about how staying engaged with one's body and mind helps with learning. That is helping with her excitement level. She figured out how to use her roller-blades all by herself this summer, too.

C also has a birthday coming up, just 3 weeks before S's. She'll be 4. Four, for crying out loud! Who said my baby could turn four?! I have to keep reminding myself to treat her like she's four. The biggest thing we are dealing with with her is that I'll be "homeschooling" her preschool this year. I plan to shadow A's kindergarten curriculum and make sure C has the basics of what she'll need to know next year. We've already got letter recognition, she writes and spells aloud her first name, and she counts to somewhere around 25.

My kids are beautiful. I want to appreciate every second of this. I want them to grow older and for me to have no regrets as a mom. I am working on this right now. My struggle is with appreciating all of their personalities and trying to help them develop them while not losing it.

I'm going to miss this. I'm trying to remember.

Inspiration

This is a good video to watch if one finds oneself making a lot of excuses... Like I can find myself doing when I don't want to study my bible, or put my husband before myself, or really engage in parenting, or exercise, or get up before my kids wake up, or clean my house, or mow the lawn...

NO Excuses!

Hmm. Apparently blogger won't let me put in a YouTube video. Sorry, you'll have to click. It's good, I promise.

Assess: How did it go?

This summer, many of you participated in the Marriage Challenge. How did it go? How did it change you and how did it change your marriage?


I said this many times as I was writing my blog posts. This was such a fun challenge, and it went so well for my hubby and me. I had a great time finding out new things and remembering some things I already knew about my hubby. 


How did it change me? It made me even more aware of  how each of my actions show respect or disrespect toward him. It reminded me of the fact that sometimes, it's okay to let the day be all about him, even if it isn't his birthday or Father's Day. 


I learned that my husband is very capable of wise, informed decisions. Even when we don't talk about our future that often, he usually has a vision formed in the back of his mind about where he'd like to be in a couple of years.  And he and I are pretty much on the same page when it comes to that vision, too. 


I learned that he enjoys knowing what I respect about him. I learned that there are in fact many things I love and admire about him, and that it's always a good idea to remind him of these things now and again. Especially in public. 


I learned what his priorities are when it comes to our home life. And even though they weren't exactly as I expected, they were in fact very wisely laid out. I'm working on remembering what is priority when it comes to maintaining things at home, and I'm sure I'll be working on it for a while. Knowing what is most important to him has been beneficial for my prioritizing, as well.  


I gained a little tip about remembering to pray for him. I'm still trying to get into the habit of letting my wedding ring serve as a reminder to pray for him, but the amount of praying for him that I do has increased over the summer.  


I was reminded of why I fell in love with him, and got to look through the pictures of our wonderful wedding day again, which is always fun. In fact, it's fun to have those pictures on here, as now I can look them up again every time I blog. It even inspired me to add them to my sidebar. Hope that's not too crowded, 'cause I wrecked the slideshow and can't remember how to get it back on there.


( /rabbit trail...)


I absolutely loved this challenge. It helped me see my hubby in a new light once again. It's so much fun to learn new things about one's spouse, I think. Talking about some of the deep and not-so-deep things, poring over our wedding pictures and dating pictures together once again, and spending quiet time over his favorite meal were all fantastic ideas, and ones I hope to repeat often. 


I think it changed our marriage at least a bit too. I love and respect my husband and I hope he knows it every day, but I think getting it out in 'print' made us both just a little more keenly aware of each other. I'm so glad to have participated!
 

Week 10--Kiss Him Like You Mean It!

First, a recap of last week. I really am trying not to toot my own horn here, but since my readers are all people I know in real life, that's going to be difficult. So to preface, please keep this in mind: if in anyway I come across as haughty or bragging, I apologize from the bottom of my heart. Okay.

Hubby and I talked about last week's topic, and he said to me that there was nothing in particular he could think of that I needed to work on when it comes to respecting him. This was so encouraging! Since early in our marriage I've been trying to work on showing respect to him. I could see the way sarcasm and demanding statements made him cringe and I knew I didn't want to hurt him in that way anymore.

I try very hard not to tease him about things he struggles with or is self-conscious about when we are in public. Or in private for that matter. I try never to tell him what to do, but only to ask him when I need help with something. I actually have to be careful not to ask him to do EVERYTHING for me, because I know he would. I still struggle with all of this, and find myself having to apologize frequently enough...trust me I know I'm not perfect.

Respecting him is important to me so I work on it. It was nice to find out that my hubby thinks I'm doing alright at it so far!

Second:

August 9 - Kiss Him Like You Mean It (and be sure the door is locked!)

Again, there's no real easy way to blog about this when one knows all of one's readers personally. :) So I'll just link to the blog I'm following that is leading this Challenge. She has a wonderful post up here that has some great advice about WHY we as wives need to kiss our husbands like we mean it.

"His words are kisses, his kisses words. Everything about him delights me, thrills me through and through! That's my lover, that's my man, dear Jerusalem sisters." Song of Songs 5:16, MSG.

Week 9--Respect Him!

August 2 - R-E-S-P-E-C-T! No complaining, criticizing, rolling your eyes, nagging, or giving him any friction this week. Enjoy a week of peace in your home!


From the blog of the woman leading the charge with this exercise:

 "God's command to wives is to respect our husbands - unconditionally. Our men are not boy scouts trying to earn badges of honor. God does not say - respect the husband who is "worthy" of respect. It is simply their position of husband that we are to respect. 

Dr. Emerson Eggerich says in his book "Love and Respect" that if you asked women if they'd rather their friends love or respect them - the majority would say love. But if you asked men if they'd rather their friends love or respect them - the men would answer respect. We are hard wired this way - God created men with the need to feel respected and adequate. 

Sometimes we women "mock" the male "ego" - but it truly is tender. Deep down - there's insecurity and they need to know that indeed they are adequate, they are enough, they are worthy of our respect"


I've read and studied about this before, about the male ego. In our feminist world we've been raised, thanks to media and shows portraying the 'dumb male' who usually can't even find his own socks, that males should be 'put in their place' because otherwise they'll just ruin everything. So not true. Every husband needs the respect of his wife. It's as (or more) important to him as her love. 


She goes on: "It has taken time for me to learn what it is that makes him feel disrespected. But I can tell you a few things that all men disdain.
1. The wife rolling her eyes at him. 
2. The wife criticizing him.
3. The wife complaining to her mother or girlfriends about his flaws. 
4. The wife not respecting his knowledge, opinions or decisions.

5. The wife nagging him or assuming the worst in his actions. 

6. The wife using sarcasm to communicate bitterness.

7. The wife disrespecting his work, protection, provision or leadership. 
8. The wife disrespecting his need for physical intimacy or his "manhood"

This week - take some time to assess your husband's respect-o-meter. Ask him what sort of things you do that make him feel disrespected and respected. Work on weeding out disrespectful thoughts and attitudes and exchanging them for respectful ones."

She goes on to remind us all that we should base our respect for our husband on the fact that God commands that we respect our husband, and not make him earn it. 

And now my thoughts: We view our husbands actions through sinful eyes and they are sinful creatures, so earning respect is not always easy. So that's not what it should be based on. It should come from an obedient heart toward God. Ephesians 5:33 says "Each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself and the wife must respect her husband."

I am not the husband in this relationship, so it's not my job to worry about whether the first half is getting obeyed, it's between him and God. It's not for me to say, well, he's not holding up his end of the bargain, so I'm not respecting him. The verse does not say we can wait to respect him until he's got the loving his wife as he loves himself down pat. It just says respect him. So that's what I'll be working on this week. I plan to talk to him about any areas where he feels I am disrespecting him, as suggested. I hope to post about it but we'll see. It may be a bit personal, but I'm going for transparency here so we'll see. 

Again, I love the potential here for me to find out how better to love him. As I said I read about the whole respect thing in a wonderful book called For Women Only. I highly recommend it to anyone who asks me about good marriage books. It's made a difference for us. Anyway, we've been through conversations before about how I could better respect him, and it's always a good idea to go over these things occasionally. I'm looking forward to it! 

Week 8--Support His Vision

I am just loving this exercise. The whole summer blog series has been wonderful for me/us. This week's prompt encouraged a wonderful, long conversation about us, what got us where we are, where he hopes we will go, and what that looks like for us as we follow his lead.

July 26 - Support his vision. Discuss his vision for your family. Where does he see your family in 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years?


So we finally got a while last night to discuss it, and it was encouraging and wonderful.

1 Year: He sees us in a more stable financial place. He will be finishing up his associate's degree in less than the year, which opens up more opportunities at work. His hope is that those opportunities will come with pay raises, as well. There is not much change expected for us as a family in only a year, though we will be looking at all three children being in school as C starts Kindergarten next year. Besides that and plenty of growth and maturing, we will hopefully not have any drastic changes in one year.

5 Years: He hopes to have a more advanced position at work, perhaps (he hopes) in the prototype area there. School will be behind him at that point and he hopes to get his name out there as a freelancer/contractor in his chosen field. A small business may be something we start looking into seriously around that time. He hopes that I will by that time have my own time to do what I see fit. Right now, things like volunteering at non-profits and the kids' schools really appeal to me. That could change but that's where I sit right now.


10 Years: S will have just graduated High School (*faints*), so thoughts of college and such will be heavy on our minds. A will be entering 10th grade and C 9th grade. We will have 3 teenagers...sigh. He hopes to either be very advanced at the company he's at now, or completely independent. He also hopes to be either looking at designing and building our dream house, or already in it. For me, he hopes that by then I will have a job I love, or volunteering as much as possible somewhere near and dear to my heart. For me this would be either a location that helps the poor or a crisis pregnancy center.

We brainstormed something that we don't know WHERE it might fit in, but we'd love to see it fit in. We would be thrilled to be in a place where we could adopt. That will be something we play by ear, as it is such a huge expense. But we'd love to be able to.

Also, we discussed how tied down to our current city we feel. We agreed that we'd love to stay here until the kids are grown, then after that, perhaps we won't be anchored here so much, and may choose to move. But we're pretty stable here for now.

It is so easy to follow his lead for us. He makes wise choices and is open to life's changes. He takes other opinions into consideration and knows that life can change quickly. I know that if he were called somewhere else he would be very open to that as well, all the while keeping our family in the forefront of his mind and what changes mean for us. I feel like God really orchestrates where we are and where we are going, and that I have been truly blessed to be loved by such a wonderful man.

This was such an incredible conversation. It led to more great discussions, like the one about about how blessed I feel to be with him, ideas for running his own small business if we feel like that is a good step for us, and more. We were up way too late considering his early work time, but it was worth it, I think. I hope he thinks so too. ;)

One of my Favorite Videos.

I came across this again today thanks to one of my twitter friends. Every single time I see it I have to applaud. And I know I have a couple teachers and mommies who follow this blog, so this is for you.

What a Teacher Makes, by Taylor Mali

I like it though I've never taught a class more difficult than a daycare class, but some of the stuff he says applies to mommies, too. And for everyone else, it's just entertaining. Enjoy!

Week 7--Cook His Favorite Foods!

July 19 - Make him a priority. Ask him what his favorite dinner, dessert and drink are. Be sure to serve him all three one night this week.

I asked my husband on Monday to think about what would be his ideal meal. Our kids were gone all day today, all the way until 8:30, so we'd have time for me to pick up whatever he wanted and we could leisurely make dinner whenever we wanted. It was lovely.

He chose steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, with cheesecake for dessert, and  Mike's Hard Lemonade to drink. Oh, and applesauce, which I forgot (oops! sorry!). I added some fresh broccoli from the Farmer's Market this morning, along with some delicious bread, also from the market. It was so nice to go there without the kids, by the way. I like to take them and they have a good time, but it was a pleasant change to go without dealing with their impatience. (Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa for inviting them to the amusement park!)

So he came home and we relaxed and chatted for a while and then made dinner when we wanted to. It was actually also our first time grilling this summer, so that was nice too. Everything turned out nice and we ate slowly and (gasp!) quietly.

I hope he felt special. It was amusing asking him what he wanted. In fact, as I was thinking about it later, I could tell that he's very used to pampering me and making sure that my wants and needs are met. Especially after everything we've been through in life. I had to keep assuring him that it was okay for him to say all the details of what he wanted. We were talking about the cheesecake for desert and he was apologetic at one point after I asked if he wanted a variety cheesecake or just plain. I had to insist that it was his night to pick out everything and it was fine! :)

I loved doing this, will probably do it again, and I'm glad he had fun with it too.

Frayed...

That's the state of my nerves up there, in the title. I have to have another vocal chord procedure tomorrow, and my nerves just keep getting worse and worse. Intellectually, I know this is no big deal. I'm only out for 15 minutes, maybe, I'm not even going to be intubated... it's not a major thing.

But I'm still stressed. It does mean IVs, and anesthetic, and sore muscles the next couple days from the stupid positions they put me in for the procedure. It means letting go of control and putting it in that doctor's hands for the time that I'm under. It means hospital smells and leaving my husband to go to the surgery room. Ugh. I'm praying with all my mind right now that this is the last time I have to do this.

And also that I can actually sleep tonight.

Week 6-Post #2

My husband and I discussed the priorities last night in what was a very good, very eye-opening conversation. I was a bit surprised at his choices in which priorities came first (for one thing, I expected meals to take a higher priority), but once he explained his reasoning behind it all it made perfect sense, and I admire his wisdom in the choices.

His priorities:

1. ALONE TIMES: He has an easier time relaxing and relating to us when he know he can 'get away from it all' without derailing life at home. For example, he appreciates the opportunity to go in a room by himself after a bad day to compose his thoughts and de-stress. He does not feel like he needs that kind of break every single day, but just knowing that the opportunity is there for the really bad days is important to his mental stress level. For us, the knowledge that I am willing to be home when he goes out with his friends, and he is willing to do the same for me, is also important.
2. CLEANING: Again, the normal stress of a  long workday is easier to work through at home when the house is not trashed day after day. He has absolutely no demands about it being spotless all the time, but reasonably clean is important. 
3. BUDGET: This one is important because of the fact that we don't make a ton of money. Budgeting our finances and saving wherever we can is important for our family.
4. MEALS: Comes next because while home cooking is nice, it isn't vital. He likes my cooking and enjoys that I pack him a lunch. So it is important, but not as much as the others. 
5. TIME MANAGEMENT: Aside from when he and talk about his schedule and the things we do in the evening, the things I do from this category happen largely when he is at work. As he has never had any issues with the way I manage my time and the girls', this gets low priority. Again, important, and I'm doing a fine job, but not vital.

SOME THOUGHTS: I pretty much completely agree with his choices and explanations. First, I've seen the difference giving him some time to himself can have. I also know the impact getting out and hanging out with his friends has on his stress levels, and therefore when there isn't anything else going on, and he wants to go, I try to make sure he can get out and do that sort of thing.

Second, to be totally honest, I was terrible at keeping the house clean when we first got married. I'm so glad I've gotten the determination to get it clean almost every day. I can tell the difference in myself, and in my husband now that I actually keep the house in reasonable order. 

Third, the budget is pretty much my area. I, for one thing, actually have the time to take care of it. For another thing, the way I organize is well suited for our budget, and somehow my brain is able to do the mental problem-solving that sometimes our budget takes.

Fourth, I've recently started packing him a lunch every day. Before, I figured he would pack one if he wanted it. With all the stuff on his plate it was getting forgotten at night, and he is getting up so early that there is no time for it in the morning. So now I just pack it as we're putting supper away at night. It's easy enough to just put the leftovers in their dishes in his lunch box and put it all in the fridge for him to grab every morning. Simple. Wish I had thought of that before.

Fifth, that category makes perfect sense in last place. I schedule most of our appointments for when he's at work anyway, so we can be home when he is as often as possible. So I can see why this wouldn't impact him as much as the others.

This was an excellent exercise. I found out just a couple areas that could be better taken care of, and he turned the tables and asked if there was anything I'd like that would help me in being able to take care of everything that gets done here. I thought back to the "5 Love Languages," and the fact that I respond best to being appreciated ("words of appreciation"). I asked him to simply notice and verbally acknowledge what gets done. Knowing that he sees that it takes a lot of work to run our house and that he recognizes what I do is very encouraging to me.

Week 6-Post #1--Some arguments for stay at home moms, and a list.

July 12 - Make a list of 5 things you currently do and ask him to prioritize them for you of what is important to him. For example - a clean home, home cooked dinner, coupon clipping, service at church, having friends over for dinner, watching/doing sports with him, etc.

I'll start this week in a kind of roundabout way. I've been following a couple "mommy blogs" lately. These women are wonderfully secure in their convictions about God's plan in their lives, and I find myself learning things about more than just the art of staying at home.

"One of the common stereotypes of biblical womanhood is that she is enslaved at home, receiving orders barked from her husband who is 'in charge'.

Contrary to that idea, a woman in a biblical marriage is the “queen” or manager of her home. She is actually the one “in charge” of the numerous duties of keeping a home and her husband is free to be the man God created him to be because “the heart of her husband safely trusts her”. The two are on the same page–same vision–same goals. He doesn’t have to micro-manage her time because he knows she is capable, smart and eager to fulfill their mission.

One of the feminist lies is that a woman can only be truly free in a career outside her home. But the irony is that she still submits to someone (usually another man). What’s worse is that the man whom she must obey doesn’t love her, doesn’t have her best interests at heart and doesn’t feel any motivation to protect her." (By Kelly at Raising Homemakers)

Today Kelly over at Raising Homemakers made the best point I've seen so far. She points out that if a woman has a career outside of the home, she will still probably be submitting to SOMEONE, most likely a man. However, unlike her husband, this person (woman or man) will not have her and her family's best interests in mind. The manager or CEO or boss the woman works for will be looking out for the best interests of the company they work for.

In the home, on the other hand, a woman can commit all her energies to caring for her family and guiding the children given to her by God. The man she is called to submit to is likewise called to give his entire life for her, to care for her more than for himself, to die for her. Very UNlike a boss/manager. That and the company she works for will be giving orders, expecting to be obeyed. In a biblical marriage, the man and woman decide on goals together, and the woman shows herself trustworthy enough to manage the 'home side' of things. There are no orders, only decisions made together, as a team. That, plus the fact that a woman can find ways to contribute to the family from in the home.

Of course, I understand that there are women who HAVE to work, especially in this economic climate. And that's another thing I like about these blogs, they are quick to assure their readers that they know that in an imperfect world, staying at home is not possible for every mother.

Blessedly, my husband makes enough and we've wrangled our budget to a point where I can, in fact, stay home. Of course, another aspect of this is the fact that we have enough children that if I had to work during the summer they'd be in daycare, which would just be silly, as I would be working simply to make enough to keep them in daycare.

All of that to lead me into the first post on this week's challenge topic. This week's challenge is to lay out the responsibilities I've taken on in my SAHM role. Then, to go over them with my husband and determine which are most important to my husband, the care of our home, and myself. The example the blogger posing the challenge gave was when she threw herself head first into coupon clipping and deal finding, driving from store to store finding deals to save them money, newborn and toddler in tow. She was surprised to find out that to her husband, the money saved wasn't his priority. To him, the priority was the knowledge that she and the children were safe, and not running herself ragged running all over town. Importantly, he never told her not to clip coupons, and he appreciated the money saved, but it was not as high on his priority list as her sanity and safety were. To this end, things AT HOME, such as organization, were higher priority to him.

So now I will be making a list of the things I take care of at home, and this week my hubby and I will discuss the responsibilities I've taken on to run our home. We'll assign priorities so I can know the things that are most important to us as a family, and ensure that these are the things that get done first and foremost.

In no particular order...

1. CLEANING: laundry, vacuum, dishes, make beds, lawn care
2. BUDGET: bills, coupons, groceries
3. TIME MANAGEMENT: appointments, calendar, babysitting, activities for kids
4. MEALS: planning, making home-cooked meals, packing his lunch
5. ALONE TIMES: Devotional/recharge times (carving out time for my own and his)

Okay, I understand these categories cover a LOT of little tasks. But I've tried to categorize them as well as I can in order to get an idea of which of the things that occupy my time are most important to him, in general. Then, in turn I can devote more of my time to those things. Another post will be forthcoming about our conversation and what is, in fact most important to him.

Oh, and P.S., I was right. Hubby got a major kick out of reading last week's post. I'm so glad to have him home, and so glad he got to go on the trip. He had some definite confirmations that he was right where he belonged that week. And our week at home did go very well, as much as I did miss him. We had plenty to occupy our time and I hope he gained some additional confidence that we can be okay without him so he can go on these trips.

Week 5- Admire Him!

I'm excited that this challenge happened to fall on the week that Hubby is on a trip with the youth group. He's going to be a leader this year and joined the group on a team building trip to Colorado. He's almost totally 'off the grid' for a week. Therefore, he will not be able to read the post until he comes home. I can write it knowing it'll be a pleasant surprise for him when he gets home. Then, when he does get home and gets back online, one of the things waiting for him will be the email that tells him I wrote this post. :)


There are so many things I admire about my husband, I don't know how I'm going to organize it into a comprehensible post. But here goes.

1) My husband is a man of God. I have long admired his knowledge of God and his demonstration of his walk with Christ in the everyday. He is an amazing leader for our family and such a good influence for our children. He is able to teach them about matters of the heart and God in a way that is clear and easy for them to understand as children.

2) My husband is incredibly faithful and loyal. We've been through some health issues that would have easily driven a lesser man away. My husband not only stuck by me, but stayed with me in hospital rooms even though it meant work would be harder for him, not to mention the stress of watching me deal with various medicines. With everything we've been through, we are definitely a stronger couple today than the day we got married.

3) I admire his integrity. He is honest in his dealings with me, with our extended families, with friends, and with his coworkers. He speaks what is on his mind truthfully, yet kindly. He is also able to admit his flaws, and confess to others when he's wronged them. Even when it means putting his reputation on the line.

4) He is always loving and respectful to me in spite of my flaws. I come from a family of women who are strong and often stubborn and kinda proud of it. Through everything I do he puts up with me and my strong opinions. He quietly sits back and lets my rants wind themselves down and never tells me that I'm being silly about something that doesn't matter that much. He is far more patient with me than I deserve.

5) As I said, I have a strong and strongly opinionated family. His love for them in spite of their flaws is inspiring to me. He put up with my dad holding a grudge against him for a couple years. His patience paid off, as my dad has been downright friendly lately! It's great.

6) My husband is humble. It can even be difficult for him to take a compliment. But I do so love the way he blushes whenever I compliment him, which I try to do as often as I can. I can only imagine his face after he reads this post! :)

7) I admire his wisdom. He prayerfully considers decisions that need to be made, rather than jumping in headfirst. My husband tries to discern God's will for himself and our family in his decision-making.

8) I admire his drive. This past year he was on 3 different committees between church and our neighborhood association, he went to school full time online, and worked 50-60 hours a week. This spring he began training for a 5k race. Add to that being on the lights team at church and having a wife and three kids. It was tiring, to say the least, but he handled the busy year amazingly well and got through it all. His drive and ability to get the things that need to get done, done, is inspiring.

9) My husband is very handsome. We've been married more than 7 years (I've known him for 10) and he is more handsome to me now than the day we met. He works on taking good care of himself, and I look forward to seeing him grow more and more handsome to me as the years go on.

10) I admire his ability to lead. In everything we go through he consults my opinion yet isn't afraid to also give his.  He takes all sides of an issue into consideration when making the big decisions that need to be made. Also, he is willing to step aside in areas where my talents shine (for example, finances), and simply agree or disagree with my thoughts about the area as needed.

There are so many things I admire about my husband. Every day I am thankful for him. This week is fast proving the adage 'absence makes the heart grow fonder.' I can't stop thinking of how much I love him and love being with him. I can't wait until Saturday evening, when I'll get to tell him all these things in person again.

Week 4- Pray for Him Every Day This Week

Whew. What a week to come to a challenge that actually required me to remember things. It's VBS this week and we're babysitting the director's little boy in the afternoons and life has just been absolutely insane.

But I can say that it is Wednesday and I have successfully remembered to ask my Hubby what he would like prayer for before bed each night, and then to pray for those things the next morning during my quiet time. Besides that, a tip from the blog I got the ideas from was to mentally make my wedding ring a symbol/reminder of my promise to pray daily for him, and to let that trigger, at the very least, a 'breath prayer' for him. I did well on this on Monday and okay on Tuesday. Today, my brain is mush and I'm struggling with it.

I've been writing down Hubby's prayer requests in my new little notebook, and have even, already, been able to record some answers to prayer. On all three days so far my husband has asked me to pray for him to have the stamina to get through his work days. Monday and today were, in fact, pretty good days at work. Tuesday he asked me to pray that he would do his best in the 5k we ran last night. He ran it in nearly the same speed as the last one we did a month and a half ago, and this time he didn't even have a pacer! He did in fact do a fantastic job. Monday he asked that he would have the drive to get ahead in his school work, and right now he only has two assignments to finish before Friday. Fantastic! It's amazing to see prayer and accountability working together here. I know that God has his hand in everything we do, and I also see how mentioning the things you want to get done in someone else's presence can inspire you to get them done.

I also have been praying over various things as suggested in the book 'The Power of a Praying Wife.' I've read through the book before and now am just using the list of topics as a starting point to figure out areas where I believe there is needed prayer and praying over it.

Praying for one's husband can be such an eye-opening thing. So often when I pray over something that is happening or something I'd like to see change in our lives, I can feel myself being guided mentally toward a solution that does not involve my husband changing, but myself. In fact it's striking how often, when I bring my problems to God before yelling at my hubby, I realize I'm being picky, or the issue is not as big as I had thought, or at least I can get a handle on my emotions and explain to him how I feel without accusing or heaping on the guilt.

I hope to have an even more eye-opening week as I go. The blog post about this week's challenge even talked about fasting, so we will see. :)

Week 3-Wedding Day!

Oh, we were so young! I cannot remember a day that was overall as happy as the day we got married. My mother tells me I was quite stressed, and maybe I was, cause I can be kinda type 'A' (Stop snickering at me!!). But I don't remember being stressed. I remember many times thinking, 'oh, isn't this just so much FUN!'

We were married in the church my hubby grew up in, and which we still attend today. Both our brothers, his two sisters, and a couple friends stood up for us. My sister, who was only 11 at the time, did the guestbook and read our scripture verse. And no, I can't remember what the verse was or what the pastor preached on! Far, far too excited, as everyone is.





My Grandpa sang 'Amazing Grace' for us, which was so incredibly meaningful to me. He and my other Grandpa were planning to sing 'Sunrise, Sunset' at my wedding, but my dad's dad passed away when I was 16.

The pastor who married us has also baptized our 3 kids and walked with us through journeys of cancer and everything else.
It was an amazing day filled with our best friends and biggest supporters. I loved every minute of it, even if I had my moments! :)

We had such a simple ceremony, which I like, and while there are things I would change, like having the reception somewhere besides the church we were married in, I cherish the joy I felt that day. Looking back on the pictures makes me smile so much!

I still marvel that I got to marry the man who is the person I am most at ease with in this entire world. The fact that God brought us together so early was an amazing part of his plan, as without God and my husband by my side, I sometimes don't know how I'd have made it through the years of sickness and treatments for Hodgkin's.

Just remembering the way I felt that day, getting ready, putting on the dress, having my future husband see me in the dress for the first time, exchanging vows, rings and kisses, and then celebrating with our friends and family, is amazing.

Week 2-Dating Days

This week's writing prompt is to talk about our dating days and/or post pictures from those days. Our dating days were fairly short compared to what we had planned at the beginning of our relationship, as we had both planned to go to college after high school, but that was put on hold. I do not regret where our life has led, and am exceedingly glad that I got to marry the most incredible man!

(Our first picture together. My mom ambushed us before our very first date.)


We were literally high school sweethearts. We started dating his Sophomore/my Junior year. Most of our dates consisted of Band functions! We met through band class. He was a drummer and I played trumpet. I have no idea what attracted him to me, but I know I liked his chivalry and sense of humor right off the bat. And the fact that he was and still is very good looking was an incredible plus!

(Our first dance)
The thing that strikes me most about those days when I think back is the fact that it was so easy for us from day one. In spite of the butterflies and nervousness from having our first real relationship (yes, we were each others first 'official' boyfriend/girlfriend), it seemed so easy to get to know each other. I think I knew very early that he was the one I was to marry. I'm hearing chuckles and snorts, as we were only 16. But looking back now, I've never wanted to try dating anyone else since the very first day of our relationship.

I've always felt very cared for by him. I've never felt disrespected or like he doesn't care about my opinions. Quite the opposite, in fact, I feel like he seeks my opinions on almost everything. He listens to my rantings (which, sometimes, are many!), thinks I'm beautiful, and is still very chivalrous, opening doors and everything. I find him easy to respect in return, and I find that I want to show him how I love him as often as possible. And, he is still the most handsome man I've ever met. Not only is that last sentence true, but he reads this and I know it'll embarrass him. hehe.


We dated almost the way through high school and were married soon after. True high-school sweethearts.

The last picture is my all-time favorite picture of the two of us from our dating days. I don't like many pictures from my high school days, but this is one of them. I love this picture.

Completing Him Challenge

Okay the picture doesn't go anywhere, just FYI.

I've been exploring stay-at-home mom blogs and such looking for encouragement and back-up, if you will, in my role as a SAHM. One of them I found is called Women Living Well, and it is doing a challenge over the summer. The challenge is to become more and more of the helpmeet that our husbands need. This has intrigued me for a long time. I was going to write, 'since the day we got married,' but that isn't true. As much as I have loved my husband through our entire relationship, I was very immature and selfish when we got married. God has taken our relationship a long ways from the 18-year-old kids we were when we married. 

Anyway, here's the schedule of the challenge:

Here's the Topic Schedule for those who want to link up each week:

June 7 - announce to your readers you are participating by posting the button on your site and leaving your link below. Optional: Embed the HTML from this video in your blog post!

June 14 – Post Pictures from your dating days (or tell us all about it!). Think about one thing you used to do or have as a couple that you have lost in the shuffle of life. How can you regain it?

June 21 - Remember Your Vows - post pictures of your wedding day. We will review the sacredness of this day.

June 28 - Ask your husband every morning how you can pray for him that day. Bonus: Fast and pray for him one day this week.

July 5 - Admire Your Husband. Write this post and then show it to him! He will smile!

July 12 - Make a list of 5 things you currently do and ask him to prioritize them for you of what is important to him. For example - a clean home, home cooked dinner, coupon clipping, service at church, having friends over for dinner, watching/doing sports with him, etc.

July 19 - Make him a priority. Ask him what his favorite dinner, dessert and drink are. Be sure to serve him all three one night this week. Bonus: cook his favorite dishes all week long!

July 26 - Support his vision. Discuss his vision for your family. Where does he see your family in 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years.

August 2 - R-E-S-P-E-C-T! No complaining, criticizing, rolling your eyes, nagging, or giving him any friction this week. Enjoy a week of peace in your home!

August 9 - Kiss Him Like You Mean It (and be sure the door is locked!)

Well, I won't be linking up to her today, but I'll be following these ideas. They are fantastic, and I do these sorts of things occasionally, but I think the onslaught of these sort of actions will be really good for our marriage. Plus they all sound like fun. 

whoa.

'They' say that this is nothing. My life is only going to get busier. Well, good grief, I don't know if I can handle busier. I already find myself looking around the table when we've managed to find a night where we can actually eat around the table and going, 'when did we last do this?' And my kids are 7 and younger.

I now have a third grader and a kindergartener. I'm going to be 'home-schooling' C everything she needs to know for Kindergarten next year, so I don't really call her a preschooler officially because it's going to be so casual. She already knows the alphabet and most of the letter sounds, counts to 25, and can say her address and spell her name. So I'm not going to sweat anything with her, she picks it up so easily.

S  is headed to camp in a couple weeks, she'll be sleeping over the last night. This will actually be her first sleepover by herself that wasn't at her Grandparents' house. She's stoked and her sister who shares a room with her is not. A is very dependent on S and is NOT looking forward to that week.

We have friends coming up from Ohio next weekend. That will be incredibly fun but my brain is already thinking on what needs to be cleaned. Everything, of course, but I need to have a list, that just being the way I am. :)

We just put up a new swingset, and C, the fearless child that she is, climbs the climbing wall. Y'know the kind with the rocks, like a professional climbing wall? Well we have one of those that goes 5 feet straight up and she now climbs it with no help. We've taken to calling her our little monkey.

Here's a link to our YouTube video of her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm7yvqM7z5Q



A has also learned our address, and passed the Kindergarten screening with flying colors. I think that because her birthday is so early in the year, thus missing the cut off dates and making her one of the oldest in her class, we will actually need to pay attention so that she doesn't get bored in her classes. Once a teacher asks her to do something she's off and running, and I don't want her to get ahead and get bored. I'm ready for her to be in Kindergarten, she's so eager to learn and I think she's going to love it.





S is finishing up another season of softball and thrilled to be a third grader. She's really looking forward to summer. I think she's really ready for that break. Now that school is really getting into some challenging things, she doesn't get overly excited about every single day anymore. She still likes it and gets along well with teachers and classmates, I'm glad she still has such a good attitude about it.




I have discovered the benefits of running with a barefoot stride instead of heel-striking. Those of you who know me on FaceBook are probably sick unto death of me talking about this, and Hubby keeps teasing me about being an evangelist about it. But that's okay. I have a pretty new pair of Nike Free Runs and I love them and running like this. You strike with the mid-foot, as you do when barefoot, instead of the heel, as you do when wearing rigid running shoes. It strengthens muscles in the foot, ankle, leg, around the knee, and in the hip. It also keeps you from putting so much shock on all the joints. The heel, people are discovering, is not built to take hard shocks, even when walking. So, running and landing on the heel like most do, sends shocks through the heel and up through all the joints of the legs and into the back. Hence, knee injuries, hip troubles, and back problems, all of which are higher in those of us who wear a lot of shoes (us Europeans/Americans), and especially in those who use expensive running shoes. Shocking, huh? The expensive shoes that people are using are actually making their injuries worse and happen more often.

Well, that was long. I can't blame you if you skipped most of that last paragraph. You did, didn't you? That's okay. I've been thinking about that a lot lately, and maybe now that I've put it on here I'll be able to shut up about it elsewhere. ;-)

I found out from my ENT that I need to have another (very minor) surgery to have my vocal chord put back into place... I'm not looking forward to it. I get so nervous before surgeries, even this one that is so minor. The last time they forgot to give me the 'feel-good' IV before and I had an emotional moment in the operating room. Ugh. So if you feel so inclined, send up a prayer for me. I'll try to get a date up here soon. I just have to get daring enough to schedule the appointment, and find a date that I actually could do it.

It's raining like crazy here now and I love it. I always have loved rain. Perfect way to end the day.