Memorial Day - Support Military Families

I know I've mentioned it before, but our family is SO BLESSED to have our military men and women return safely and in one piece, every time they have gone overseas.  Not every family is so lucky, and for Memorial Day, I wanted to pass along a list of ways to help support military families that I found in a recent issue of Redbook Magazine.

1. Help a new generation of young war widows by supporting the American Widow Project.
2. Find a local event where you can support military families, such as assisting at homecoming events.
3. Organize a baby shower-in-a-box for a military mom-to-be.
4. Transfer frequent-flier miles to Hero Miles, a program that allows injured soldiers' family members to visit them in the hospital.
5. Recycle old cell phones by donating to Cell Phones for Soldiers.  (NOTE:  We participate in this one at work, so I am partial to it.)
6. Adopt a soldier's pet as part of the Military Pets Foster Project until their owner returns safely home.
7. Support Operation Hug-A-Hero, which creates dolls using the soldier's photo to give to the children while their parents are away.

Even doing one thing on this list can make a huge impact to a family that needs your support.


Hope you had a relaxing long weekend!

We're All Adults... Right???

This has certainly been an interesting week at work.

While home with Katie on Monday, I checked my work email a few times and saw I'd been invited to a meeting first thing Tuesday morning.  It was entitled "Facilities Meeting", but looking at the invitee list, I couldn't figure out what any of us had to do with facilities.  I was so confused, accepted the meeting invitation, then emailed to find out if I needed to bring anything in particular for discussion.  Nope.  For informational purposes and sharing with the staff.

If you would've told me what this was about beforehand, I never would've believed it.  It was about bathroom etiquette, and the apparent lack thereof from some lady/ladies (? mysterious source?) that work(s) on my floor.  I will not gross you out with any details, but let's just say that there has been some inexcusable behavior in the ladies' room that I NEVER had to address while potty training the girls, even on our worst days.  Seriously.  They called me in to the meeting because I'm part of the group that's new to the building.  We decided to divide and conquer in terms of spreading the potty courtesy message, with Wanda taking the "old" building residents and me handling the "new".

I was still in disbelief that I even had to address this AT WORK, and was slightly embarrassed to have to bring up the topic in front of a group.  Luckily, I've worked with all these women for almost 6 years, so we were able to be frank and also keep it light.  After a while, it was hard not to laugh about this absurd situation.

Let's hope it resolves itself.  Please, please, please let it resolve itself.  I do not want to have to talk about this ever again at work!  Though people at work are still talking about the fact that I had to talk about it...  :)

Ugh and yuck.  That's about all you can say.

First Visit from the Tooth Fairy

On Monday, Katie had to have her bottom 2 front teeth extracted.  The permanent teeth were growing in very quickly, and the baby teeth just weren't ready to come out yet.  At her recent cleaning, her dentist recommended extraction, so that's how we did it.

Katie did SO WELL!  She wasn't nervous at all.  I was so proud of her.  It took about an hour, and there she was, smiling, yet annoyed that she had to hold the gauze in her mouth longer to ensure any bleeding had stopped.  I was just thrilled that it all went so well.  We met Colin for lunch and ice cream, then came home and took some pictures of her new smile:

Showing the gap

New teeth!

She didn't have a lot of pain afterward, either.  I gave her Tylenol as recommended that day and before bedtime, but she hasn't needed it since.  The Tooth Fairy did pay her a visit, but apparently didn't leave as much money as she'd expected (someone else got a MUCH bigger haul from the Tooth Fairy, so Katie was anticipating a big wad of cash as well).  She's happy, though, and looking forward to losing more teeth and making more money.  I just hope we don't need any more extractions!

Pool Party!

We ran into our friend Karen at the grocery store today, and she invited us over for the afternoon for Jackson's 8th birthday pool party.  It seemed so wild, so spur-of-the moment (which is totally unlike Karen), but she figured the more, the merrier!

We had a GREAT time!  The girls loved swimming with Jackson and Kirby, and we were so happy that our friends Deanna and Rachel were there, too, among their other friends and neighbors.  The boys got a little crazy (like most 6-8 year old boys do), but it was all good.  We had pizza and snacks, and Karen had cupcakes and cookies set up so that everyone could decorate their own.  That was a big hit.  I might have to steal that idea for one of the girls' birthday parties.  :)  Lots of fun, playing, swimming, eating, and talking, and before we knew it, we'd been there almost 4 hours.

Natalie hadn't taken a nap, and she kept claiming she was fine.  Ha!  She fell asleep in the van before we were even a mile from their house.  Colin plopped her down for a little rest while Katie and I got busy making supper.

Fast asleep, flip-flops still on...

She played so hard in that pool!!!

Both girls zoned out after supper

It was a lot of fun.  I'm so glad we ran into Karen and she invited us over to share the afternoon with them.  Happy birthday to Jackson!!!

The Timer

I don't know about other moms, but I seem to have a hard time getting my kids to brush their teeth for an appropriate length of time.  Like long enough to actually get them clean.  They whine, they fuss...  they have obviously not inherited my semi-obsessive love of oral hygiene.  I think Katie set a record one time when she ran to the bathroom, "brushed" her teeth, and returned to her room in a span of about 9 seconds.  How can you get clean in 9 seconds?  You can't.  Sooo...

Enter my new idea:  The Timer!

Now I set the timer and they have to brush until it beeps.  This is working like a charm.  Now they are even challenging each other to brush longer, and having me set the timer for increasing amounts of time. 

I should've bought a timer for their bathroom a long time ago.

Nice Weather Wasted

It was a tough morning...  We had some excellent music to play to worship the Lord and send off our friend Jeff, as well as recognize Richard for 25 years in the ministry.  And I couldn't believe how much I cried.  And then, since orchestra plays in both services, I had to do it all again!  Colin said at least I would know when the emotional parts were coming, but it didn't help.  More tears.  I am really going to miss those two guys!!!  They've been a big part of our life.

This afternoon we had some of the most beautiful weather we've had in a while.  It was cooler with a nice breeze.  I put on my workout clothes after church.  The girls were going to do crafts with Grandma this afternoon (which they often do), and that's usually my time to run by myself or tackle some chore around the house that is better done uninterrupted.  I was sooo looking forward to a good 4 miles out there.  What did I do instead?

I FELL ASLEEP!

I haven't taken a nap in so long, and it felt so good.  I've just felt emotionally worn for the past few weeks, and I think the extra rest will help me.  I feel a bit guilty about missing my run, but the good news is that the cooler weather is supposed to continue for a few days.  It should be pleasant for an outside run tomorrow at lunch instead of the dreadmill.

Hope you had a restful weekend!!!

More Changes Afoot

We love our church.  To me, one of the most fabulous parts about attending has been that I can continue playing my clarinet in our church orchestra.  So it has been a real 1-2 punch over the past couple weeks to find out first that Jeff, our music director, is leaving, and then that Richard, our senior pastor, is leaving as well.

Jeff's departure has been planned behind the scenes for some time, with he and his wife working to move out of state to live closer to their aging parents.  I can certainly understand that, but it was still quite a surprise when they made the announcement of their departure date, plans finally coming together for them and their family.  Jeff bring so much to our church in terms of arranging music, planning the services, and leading choirs, handbells, and orchestra, that he will be terribly missed.  Not many churches have an orchestra, so we are a little nervous about our future as an ensemble.  Jeff isn't, though.  We're all praying that they find someone with the skill set to lead as many groups as he did.

Richard will be moving to another church near-ish to here, and we'll be getting a new senior pastor in July.  I know pastors come and go (it's the nature of the beast), but he's been at our church for just about 6 years, and we have all really grown to love him.  He baptized both our daughters.  In fact, Katie was his first baptism at our church when he arrived.  His meaningful sermons and patient, listening ear have helped me more times than I can count:  parenting struggles, loss of loved ones, even disagreements with my husband.  Richard has a knack for putting his message into words that you can relate to, and I will miss that.

This Sunday will be our last time playing with Jeff.  While he'll be in town a little longer, his time leading the music ministry will end.  I'm sure it will be bittersweet.

Like Jell-O

If you know me in real life, you know that within the past year, I've taken on supervisory responsibility over some of our staff members at work.  I was thrilled to have the opportunity as I've been sorely missing this on my resume.  However, this has been a lot more challenging than I anticipated.  When we reorganized, they couldn't have found people any more different from myself to shift into my span of control! 

I found myself lamenting this fact to my dad the other day, saying that I can handle my kids just fine, so how come I can't handle a bunch of adults?  We're all grown-ups, right?  How can this be so hard?  And he said:

"People are like Jell-O.  You have to squeeze everything you can into them before the mold sets.  You can still work with your kids.  Unfortunately, with the people at work, their molds have already set!"

Thank you, Dad, for bringing humor to the situation.  :) 

I never would've thought of it that way, but how true.  Until now, I've mainly worked with other engineers and geologists, people with similar educational backgrounds to my own.  Not now.  I've had to get used to the fact that not everyone is as analytical as I am, not everyone sees things the same way, and not everyone expresses themselves in the same way.  I am challenged every day in this role, but learning new things all the time.  Hopefully these new experiences as a supervisor will strengthen me in other ways, too, making me a better wife, better mom, better friend, and better employee.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day always starts well enough for me, then usually morphs back into a regular old Sunday.  It certainly isn't like the lavish pampering days you see on TV and the movies!

We had pancakes this morning, and gifts!  I got a framed photo of the girls, a reading lamp, and lots of artwork and cards made at school.  The best was a book that Katie made, where she stated (among other things) that my favorite clothes are pajamas!

My sweethearts!

Then it turned into regular Sunday...  church, groceries, laundry, bickering, not sharing Barbies, disagreements that I have to referee, naptime for Natalie seemingly against her will, me going out for a run (need to update my widget!), the girls going to work on crafts with Grandma and Poppop, and finally, DINNER THAT I DIDN'T HAVE TO COOK OR CLEAN UP AFTER!  That is always my favorite part.

We went to Mimi's Cafe, and they were full, which probably caused our server to be a bit more scattered than I would hope she usually is.  Dinner was fine, but although Colin and I asked 3 times for the dessert menu, she brought the girls some ice cream and then went on like she hadn't heard or processed our request.  Instead of getting angry, I just gave up and ate extra Easter candy when we got home.  At least the girls liked their ice cream!

Yum!

In front of our flowers

Still on the quest for the elusive photo where we are all looking the same direction

All in all, it was a pretty good day.  We called my mom, too, and I got some extra hugs, so at least I feel appreciated enough to tide me over until next year (I hope!).

Hope all you mommies had a great Mother's Day!!!!!!

Unlikely Duo

We have a girl (well, young lady) at our church that I see often. From the outside, she looks to be a rebellious teen, and I can only hope that I am wrong. Until recently, I would’ve pegged her as a troublemaker. But over the past few months, I’ve been watching something develop with this young lady, A.

About a year ago, we had a new family join our church, and their daughter, R, is severely disabled. She is about 8, has limited verbal abilities, and also does not have good body control. R spends much of her time in a wheelchair. Her smile is as bright as the sun, and she works so hard at everything she does that you just can’t help but love her.

And apparently, that has stirred something in A. She has gone from being withdrawn to being R’s biggest cheerleader. She pushes R around church, helps her with activities, and gives R’s mom a much-needed break. In fact, R recently walked in church, her first steps outside of physical therapy. R was held up by her mom and A, and she let go of them and walked into the arms of Pastor Richard. I started to cry.

It has been so amazing to me to watch God’s love touch both of their hearts and form such a bond between A and R. They make quite the pair, and I know I am moved when I see the somewhat unlikely duo together.

You just never know who the Lord will bring into your life that will make an impact on you – food for thought as you move through the weekend.

Planting Flowers

After 7 years of just sort of living with what was in the planter on the front of our house, I watched way too many marathons of Desperate Landscapes and decided enough was enough!  Time to do something!  We needed to plant flowers!  Now!

Colin did the hard work on Saturday of clearing out the old mulch, dead vegetation, and persistent roots from the planter.  Then he added topsoil to our sandy soil, put down some weed block, and mulched the entire thing.  We all took a trip to Home Depot to pick out a variety of flowers for our planter.  We ended up with 4 types and planted the back row alternating with begonias and hypoestes.  The front row, and any empty spots to fill out the curves, alternates kalanchoes with African violets. 

Begonias - we got both light and dark pink

Hypoestes

Kalanchoe

African violet

Katie was a marvelous helper on Sunday, helping to set out the plants in our predetermined patterns, scraping aside mulch, digging up soil, and helping transfer the plants from their pots into the ground.  Natalie was much more interested in the watering aspect of the operation, and I hope she didn't overdo it on some of them!

A couple days later, and they still look gorgeous, though I'm not sure the African violets will make it with our soil type.  We'll have to wait and see!

In other floral news, the tiny pots we planted on our girls' fun day are really taking off!  Soon we will have to transplant the sunflowers to either a larger pot or a spot in our yard.  Hooray!

Emotions from the News of the Day

I was strangely emotional this morning when I flipped on the TV and saw it.  Osama bin Laden dead.  The visions of the Twin Towers from 9/11 came to mind immediately, and again, back came the grief and sadness for all those people who lost loved ones that day due to the actions of terrorists.  This was mixed with a strange relief that he is gone, something I wasn't sure I would actually see happen.  I know his death will not make up for the fact that we lost so many too soon, on 9/11 and in the fighting that has ensued since, but I do hope that it is some sort of turning point toward an end to this war. 

As someone with family members in the military, I know I would much prefer to have them HOME and out of harm's way.  Continue to pray for the safety of our men and women overseas.  I do every day.



(Lighter notes from the weekend to follow, but I felt this deserved its own mention.)