What if...

Closing out the weekend is always a blah time in our household. We love weekends (doesn't everyone?), and it always brings a measure of sadness when Sunday hits the time of day that feels less like a weekend and more like a weeknight. But a what a great weekend it was. I started the weekend off with some of my favorite friends and ended the weekend off with my favorite neighbors, and in between I enjoyed sunshine on the lake, pizza and a movie with the family, a wonderful time worshipping the Lord at church, and a Sunday afternoon nap. Ahhh, good times.

So I salute you, Weekend, for your consistency and your flexibility, for girls-only getaways alongside great family time. For nights with too little sleep, balanced by days of napping the afternoon away. For friends, and family, and coffee, and gummy bears. And although you always leave me wanting more, Weekend, you are a friend of mine - always welcome in this home. Come again, and next time, stay a little longer if you will.

Luke hits the ball every time he's up to bat. Unfortunately, he hits it almost directly to the first baseman. But last night, on his birthday no less, he finally hit it past that first baseman and made it to first without getting out. We clapped and yelled as if he was running for Olympic gold! Now, no offense to the next couple guys in the line up, but with one out already, it didn't look good for Luke to get any farther than first. But I prayed. He's never run around the bases during a game. I prayed hard. And I played the birthday card, not that I think God didn't see that one coming. But I'm inclined to think birthdays are pretty special to our Creator as well - 'cause that next little guy hit a single, advancing Luke to second. And although the poor little fellow after him struck out, that brought us back to the top of our line up. David and I were up off our seats as the lead hitter hit a double, bringing Luke home. You may think David isn't the excitable type, and for the most part that's true, but with the look on Luke's face as he rounded third and headed home, you'd have to be dead to not be excited. Three of Luke's little friends were with us and along with Lily, they were all jumping up and down as he crossed homeplate. And even though the sun was setting behind us, I kept my sunglasses on - to hide the tears.

The team won, and as Luke left the dugout his friend Jed said, "Luke, you're the best at that game that I've ever seen!" Luke shrugged and said, "Nah, there are a lot of boys better than me." But I tend to agree with Jed, because I've never been so excited at a baseball game in my entire life!

Just about the time the birthday cards and gifts stop rolling in for Miss Lily, a new batch begins to trickle in bearing Luke's name. Yep...it's now time to celebrate the main man - Luke David. Tomorrow, April 9, is Luke's 7th birthday - and boy, is he ready. He's been counting down since, well, January-ish. I'm not sure what we're going to count down to once the birthdays have come and gone, Christmas maybe?

It's not surprising news to share that Luke was a surprising arrival. Born just 12 months and 2 weeks after Lily, we certainly weren't planning on expanding our family so quickly. But Luke's birth will forever be a great lesson in faith, a lesson in trusting the Lord's plans for my life. I was a mess when I found out I was pregnant and could not, no matter how hard I tried, figure out how having 2 little ones so close together could ever be a good thing. Well shame on me for being so faithless and short-sighted because I can say in all honestly that having 2 little ones so close together is actually better than good, it's the best! I was so worried about Lily, and how Luke's arrival would impact her life, and his arrival certainly did impact her life -but for the better. It's kinda like God knit Lily her very own best friend and delivered him to her life just 12 months after her own birth. Actually, it's exactly like that. Sometimes, I feel like he belongs to her more than me, and I now I can't imagine a greater gift that David and I could have given our daughter than a life long friend and companion.

I am overwhelmed with love and gratitude as we celebrate the 7th birthday of the biggest surprise of our lives!

So today, while driving on interstate, I ended up behind a car with one of those "COEXIST" bumper stickers. You know, the ones that have a different religious symbol for each letter. I have my own feelings about the general message of that sticker, but that's another post for another day. The funny thing about today's was - it was taped onto the back windshield. Taped. As in scotch. So apparently although "coexistence" is a nice thought, this driver isn't completely committed to the idea.

Well, the day is only half over but so far I've...

- successfully avoided the "is the Easter Bunny real?" question by talking in circles that I didn't even understand myself.

- got our family fed, dressed and out the door on time (even with the distraction of new ZhuZhu pets).

- made it out the door without any silly bands on my children to clash with their Easter clothes.

- ridden public transportation with friends - and lots of strangers - twice.

- worshipped our RISEN LORD with 11,000 or so of my closest friends! Such an awesome experience!

- celebrated and prayed and cried with a few new believers - Jason, Bonnie and the others who's names I can't recall right this minute - you truly are an answer to the prayers of many, many people, and I'll continue to pray for you, maybe our paths will cross again.

- enjoyed a wonderful, fuss free meal with the family (an Easter miracle indeed!).

and currently, I am fighting off a nap but this battle may be lost!

Happy Easter everyone - may the hope of Christ represeted in His power over the grave resonate through your life today - and everyday!

I remember the day you were born. What I wore. What I ate for breakfast. The lump in my throat when the ultrasound tech told me you'd be 9 pounds. No wonder my blood pressure hit the roof! I remember calling my friend - and labor nurse, Karen, and telling her the Dr. was ready to induce. I remember how Rhonda and Courtney beat us to the hospital - even though they were 30 minutes away and we were right across the street. I remember signing the paperwork to have an epidural - then later deciding not to. And I do remember how badly it hurt. I remember Karen telling me not to push, and crying back at her that I couldn't help it. I remember hearing "It's a girl!" for the first time. A baby girl. A "big girl" they called you - 8 lbs, 7 oz- but you looked so tiny to me. I remember your Daddy cutting the cord, and later telling me how he carried the pink slip of paper to the waiting room and held it up to the window to show the awaiting crowd a daughter was born. I remember your Grandma June looking pretty rough - as if she was the one who'd just given birth. She probably would have fared better had I gotten the epidural. I remember how intently you stared at my face, with your blue-gray eyes, as if you were as anxious to know me as I was you. You felt brand new, yet so familiar all at once.

So my Lily-girl, when I get a little teary eyed as each birthday comes and goes, you'll just have to understand - it's because I remember the day you were born. And that's probably the biggest difference between me and you. A day that you will never recall is forever ingrained in my memory, as if I lived it yesterday. But sadly, the other 2, 919 days of your life blur together, passing much, much too quickly. And so as happy as I am to celebrate you and your precious life, your birthday will always be bittersweet, because my love, I remember the day you were born - 8 years ago today. Happy Birthday, my Lily.

Lily has an awesome sense of humor. She's not just funny, she's clever. Phineas & Ferb fans will appreciate this one...

Lily has always been amused by the amount of hair on David's arms and chest. As a toddler, she called him "furry." But about a month ago, she became a little more sophisticated in her name-calling. She's affectionately named him "Hairy the Dadypus."

Love it, love her, can't wait to hear what she comes up with next!

* For anyone not familiar with Disney's Phineas & Ferb cartoon, there is a character (a household pet/secret agent) named Perry the Platypus.

Obviously, I've all but abandoned this blog. I say "all but" because although I haven't posted since 12/18/09, I think about blogging at least once a week - and it's the thought that counts, right? But this week, I'm dusting off the blog...

So what would bring me back after 3 months of silence?

Lily's birthday is this week, and if there is any topic I can find plenty to say about, it's my sweet children. So in honor of my almost 8-year-old favorite girl in the world, I WILL post at least 3 more times this week to share some Lily-goodness.

To start I'll share the latest Lily news. About 2 weeks ago, Lily started playing softball. She loves it! This is her second taste of the sports world, she played soccer in the fall of '08 and was only mildly impressed with the sport. Softball however has really captured her fancy. Her favorite part? The other girls, and the chants they shout from the dug out. Just so you know - her team is BOOM dynamite. (Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick, BOOM dynamite!) My favorite part? The way her daddy glows when he tells me about her practices. He's so very proud of her positive attitude and enthusiastic approach to anything and everything she's asked to do. We're all looking forward to a fun season.

That's all for now, but I'll be back...really, I will!

Freezing. Did I fall asleep and wake up in January...February, maybe? This cold, gray weather seems a little early.

Warming up. Finally bought myself a pair of wool socks because I hadn't felt my toes in several days. Hello toes, nice to know you're still there.

Counting down. Christmas is just a week away!

Praying for safety. David is hunting today - a work thing. I personally think frozen fingers and triggers don't mix, but what do I know?

Remembering Tuesday! L7, I am blessed to surround myself with such an amazing group of women - our caroling may have been a little (lot) off key, but the rest of the night was right on! That's by far the most fun I have ever had unloading groceries.

Looking forward to the weekend.

I'm thinking my blog strategy for the time being will be "lightning round" style. Quick snippets. Little glimpses of what's going on around here...at least until life slows down enough to compose a complete paragraph.

Brrrrrr! It's cold! And wet. Nasty combination.

I am really enjoying Christmas carols this year. Usually, I tune into the two radio stations I can find not playing them, but this year we are listening to carols 'round the clock. I love hearing the kids sing along (getting most of the words wrong!). By observation, I think Lily's favorite is Silent Night and Luke's is Jingle Bell Rock.

Went to the urologist with David last week to follow up about his kidney stones. Nothing like seeing your husband manhandled - literally. Heeheehee.

Looking forward to Tuesday night with my favorite "book club"...or something like that!

We had a great Sunday. We stayed in PJs all day, I fried chicken for lunch, and we went to church as a family this evening. I love my family, and I love my church...and David loves fried chicken...family and church are a close second I'm sure! :)

Cinnamon rolls, my husband and the family dog were not exactly where I expected the "thankful" train of thought to stop last month. I had a few other things I wanted to mention - my kids, my church, my friends. But somewhere between a kidney stone and a miserable drive -this blog shuffled it's way from low on the list to last on the list.

The holiday week is a blurr of too much food and too little sleep, but through it all, thankfulness was never far. In an ER, at 4 a.m., you can't help but be thankful when you're husband, in excruciating pain, is given almost immediate treatment. You can't help but be thankful for clean medical facilities and health insurance. For drugs.

And though the kidney stone was the standout down side of the holiday, a not-so-close second was the miserable drive home on Sunday. Our ten hour drive became fourteen, and trust me, adding four hours to ten feels like you might as well add another ten. But again, the experience just provided more to be thankful for - we traveled fourteen hours in terrible traffic - and arrived home safely. It may not have been words of gratitude rolling off my tongue at 1:30 a.m. when the vehicle walls began closing in on me after more than 12 hours, but I was thankful none the less. The bright spot on the drive was Luke's attempt at describing his anxious anticipation of arriving home. I'm certain it won't translate as well in print as it did rolling off his precious tongue but he said: Whenever I walk in the door, I get a strange feeling...kinda excited. Think of your favorite thing - like swimming - that's how I feel, excited, like I'm swimming. I feel that way when I get home. Man, I love that fella. And my girl, well, she is my girl and her snarky response was, Ummm, so you're saying going home feels like swimming? Gotta be thankful for those two.

Just so you know - my little assortment of "thankful" posts are in no particular order - I haven't mentioned my children yet, but today, I'm posting about the dog! But when the kids are gone, and the house is quiet, I realize how much I appreciate her presence in our home. I have to admit, although you won't hear us gush about KC often, I am very thankful for her - she's a great, great dog.

Sunday, David and I headed to the mountains for a little day trip. We realized we haven't gone to the mountains together since our honeymoon - over 11 years ago! We now live only 2 hours from some of the most beautiful sights, I don't know why it's taken us 4 years to make the drive together!

We had a wonderful time. I am so very thankful for the relationship David and I have, so thankful for our friendship. He truly is my best friend.

Let's start simple. I am thankful for the weekend, and Saturday mornings in particular.



This week as I picked up a few groceries (key word - few, it's amazing how much less I need with the kids in Florida - I'm guessing my mom has realized quite the opposite about her own grocery bill!)...I grabbed can of cinnamon rolls with morning just like this in mind. Yesterday, each time I opened the refrigerator, that little Pillsbury Dough Boy gave me a smile and wave, and I could just hear his little hoohoo!

An unhurried Saturday morning, with a warm, gooey cinnamon roll and a hot cup of coffee with my favorite people in the world is heaven on earth. This particular Saturday, "people" is reduced to "person" but if I'm going to spend the morning with anyone, he's certainly my top pick. To top is off - today is our first day of sunshine in what feels like 40 days and 40 nights of rain, so the sun peeking through the blinds, as we sip our coffee and talk about the day ahead is icing. Icing on a warm, gooey cinnamon roll.

I've been struggling with consistent blogging for awhile now. But you already knew that, didn't you? The kids are in Florida right now, we created a new holiday break in the school calendar, something like "you never need a good reason to visit the grandparents" fall break. You might think that with no kids around, no "students" to teach, that I'd have all the time in the world to blog - I may have thought the same thing - but we were both wrong.

Regardless, I am here to force my own hand into blogging by saying that over the next few days, maybe even the remaining weeks of November, I am going to fill my blog with thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for. All of us. You, too. Be it watching several families I love struggle through difficult times, or our church's amazing series on joy, or just opening my eyes to the things around me, I am sincerely full of gratitude and I'd be negligent not to share it, especially as the holiday season approaches.

So check back soon for installment one of a thankful heart's thankful blog.

We have two more Halloween outings, and I'm afraid the costumes will never look as clean and intact as they did on outing #1, so here are some pics. I snapped these pics as we were headed out the door for a lunchtime party, but then we found out it had been moved to 4, so we've actually gone through the costume process twice already. Then once more tonight. And once again tomorrow night. We are squeezing every ounce out of the 19.99 spent on each costume this year!

I was recently reminded (thanks Judy!) that I'm a little behind in putting up pictures. I don't know where to begin because it's been so long since I've posted any pics, but before Halloween gets here and I have a whole new batch, I thought it best I at least get a few pictures up. These are from last weekend's trip to the mountains (beautiful by the way, we saw the fall leaves and snow, all in on one car ride!). We visited the Woolly Worm Festival in Banner Elk and returned home with two new pets, Thunder and Lightning, who survived in our household for about 2 days - may they rest in peace.

I taught the kids how to play "Hangman" last week on our whiteboard and we have been having the best time with that game. Sometimes, I'm intentional and select words that help the kids practice what we're working on, like words ending in "ck" or the silent "e," but most of the time, we just play for fun. Tonight we got David in on the action, which is a big deal because he's not much of a game player. But once he had that Expo marker in his hand, he was hooked...and as it turns out, he's a Hangman hog. He didn't want to take turns, he kept coming up with "just one more really good one."

Luke, gotta love him, has used "I Love Mom" over and over. There are only so many times I can pretend I don't know what it says!

Last month was Four Corners, this month, Hangman. We are bringing back old-school games with a vengeance - too bad we don't have enough family members to play Heads Up Seven Up!

The other night when we asked the kids if they had any problems they'd like us to pray about, they both said "school." I guess it's time for a little self-eval? I didn't realize they were having any prayer-worthy problems. Yikes. Actually, Luke specifically mentioned math, and I had noticed math doesn't come as easy to him as it does Lil. To be honest, the girls in the house kick butt with math, the boys not so much...so at least Luke has a father who can sympathize. Lately he's really been struggling with counting by twos. He memorized "2,4,6,8,10" in kindergarten, but seems to fall apart come 12. After realizing that he's bothered enough to want to discuss the math issue with Jesus, I decided I better get on the ball. I guess I really only have one authority when it comes to my day in, day out teaching performance - and it sounds like Luke is about to file a complaint to Him!

On another topic completely, our shoes are driving me bananas lately. Fall crept in quietly, and because some days are still flip-flop warm, but other days are damp and chilly, we've ended up with a shoe basket that's bursting at the weave with every pair of shoes the kids own. I pass by it thirty times a day and think "I gotta go through that basket" but find myself saying it again on bypass #31. All that to say, as I was thinking through the counting by twos issue, and my need to sort shoes, and I think I've decided we'll have a little twos and shoes fun by rounding up all the shoes we can find - I'll seize the opportunity to sort through shoes while giving Luke extra practice counting by twos. Or at least that's my intention - I guess we'll see!



One more thing that's been on my mind - I am so happy to trade my bad weather blues for blue skies! I really struggled to drag myself out of bed on the rainy, gray mornings that started our week (one more "pro" in the homeschool column - not having to get the kids out the door in the rain!). This morning I was greeted by beautiful blue skies and the park is calling our name.

Rainy Monday morning. Not the best way to start a week, but not the worst either - especially when you can stay in pjs all morning.

I had a speck of something stuck inside my eyelid for SEVEN hours Friday. Seven miserable hours. David removed it for me within minutes of arriving home. Eye love you, meye hero! :)

I *heart* fall! Spiced Apple or Harvest Pumpkin may be the fragrances of fall for some, but for me, bacon and onion sauteing a pan for a big pot of potato soup is my fall favorite - if only Glade would make that plug-in!

We took our first field trip last Wednesday - and we loaded that Explorer up just like an ol' yellow bus! I'll try to get some pics up this week.

We skipped school last Thursday, for no good reason. Being teacher and principal of the school has it's advantages.

Very relaxing weekend around here - until 5:30 p.m. yesterday when David and I became responsible for 13 children, ages 8 and under. Whew. Once again, David is my hero! He can hold a baby on one hip, while pushing a toddler in a swing, like it's his job - and I guess last night it was!

How 'bout them BULLS!?!