The Derby Doos

The Recap, part one

2012-02-08T10:00:00.002-06:00

Yes, it has been long enough since I have blogged that I am now feeling like there is going to have to be a multiple part recap edition. We have had a full couple of weeks--some good stuff, some not so good stuff, but it has just meant that either I wasn't spending time on the computer or I was electing not to blog.

The biggest thing going on right now is that Micah left this past Friday to participate in a medical mission trip in Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa. He along with his parents and another friend from medical school left a few days early so that they could make a stopover in Paris. I am happy that he has the opportunity to go, but I am not going to pretend that it didn't make me a bit sad when I thought about the sights that he was going to get to see, the pain au chocolat that he was going to eat, the smell of the bread from the bakeries that he was going to experience. Yesterday, they arrived in Burkina Faso and right now they are currently on a bus driving in to Ivory Coast. I am so excited to hear about his experience and am praying for his safety and for all that God is going to accomplish through this trip.

After a busy couple of weeks, the boys and I spent the weekend pretty much holed up at home trying to decompress and relax a bit. I tried to get caught up a bit on my project 365 photos, but had forgotten to get a couple of pictures off of Micah's phone, so I wasn't actually able to finish up the pages that I wanted to. I attempted to scrap, but it literally took me the entire weekend to finish one page. I feel like I have forgotten how. I have been trying to go through my extensive Lightroom catalog of pictures and delete bad photos or at the very least remove them and determine what to do with what I am keeping. I am feeling hopelessly behind on memory keeping, although I am hoping that I may have made a decision about how to move forward on that and get caught up.

Other news is that I am definitely losing my job that I have had for the last almost three years. It has been such a blessing having a job that allowed me to work from home and that has been so flexible. While I haven't always loved my job, I hope that I have always been thankful for it, because it has provided so much for our family. It looks as if my job will continue through May and I am in the process of trying to make decisions about what the best thing for me to do will be. We are doing lots of praying and trying to practice trust. I am grateful that there are opportunities available to me, it is just trying to make the right decision for our family. I have been texting Micah each morning at breakfast with little messages from each of us. (sidenote: how amazing is technology that I can send a text to Micah anywhere in the world and he can get it? and as long as he isn't texting me back, it doesn't cost anything) So, the other morning, I was just telling him I was praying for his day and for the trip and that God would use it to help us know what His plan for us was and I was reminded of the Scripture from Isaiah 25:1 that our family has clung to for over five years now that says "Oh Lord, You are my God, I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name: for you have worked wonders. Plans formed long ago with perfect faithfulness." By the end of the text, I had tears streaming down my face and two little boys who were trying to figure out what was up with their mama. But, it was just such a good reminder for me. We have a lot of unknowns in our life right now between my employment possibilities, Micah's rotations/residency options, future stuff. But, I know that God has a plan for us, and it is a good plan. And if I can just take a minute and practice remembering all the times that we haven't known what was going to happen and how looking back, I can see clearly that He was there, that He provided, that He didn't waste any of those difficult experiences. When I do that, my heart calms, and I can face what is ahead.

Well, I think that is enough for today. There are other recaps in the making...the sister edition and the thankful edition.

The last two pages from January:

Wednesday's Words

2012-01-25T22:10:00.001-06:00

On the way to church tonight, we kind of had a pretty normal six year old conversation that is completely random and moving from subject to subject, because if you didn't know, six year olds are very easily distracted (or at least mine are). It kind of went like this:

X & W: singing a Scripture song about a wise man and foolishness (I didn't know this particular song, so I can't give you specifics, although I have read a lot of Proverbs recently that deal with this particular subject so I was definitely tracking with them...who is easily distracted now?)

X: I was wise when I told you about getting in trouble at school

Me: Well, you were actually being honest. You didn't necessarily make wise choices.

X: But it was wise of me not to tell a lie...

Me: yes, this is true

W (kind of in the background): I always tell the 'troof' at school, but only sometimes at home...I sometimes have problems with that...

X & W: breaking into a rendition of the Wise Man and the Foolish Man

we then talked a little bit about who our rock is and why it is foolish to build on the sand and then I sang along with them on the last verse..

X: i really like your voice, mommy

Me: Well, thank you, buddy, I really like your voice too.

W: Mrs. B (their teacher) doesn't have a very good singing voice, but I just love it anyway

X: (chiming right in) I just love it too.

Me: who says she doesn't have a good singing voice?

W: she does, she says that it's okay, that God just didn't give that to her, He gives everyone different things that they are good at. Like me, I loved football at first, but now we have a handle on soccer.

X: yeah, I loved basketball, but now we are really good soccer players and we can handle it.

And that is just kind of how it goes at our house. We move quickly from thing to thing. Their teacher and I had been having a conversation this week about their reading progress and how we were both pleased that they were staying pretty close together. Xavier has definitely exhibited more of a natural inclination toward it, but they are staying pretty close together. Anyway, she had been telling me that she always tells the kids that God gives everyone different gifts and that everyone is good at different things, so I figured that was where William was going with his comment about her singing. I just loved how sweetly both of them were just so adamant, "that they love her singing anyway."

My women's study group this semester is going through Gary Thomas' book Sacred Parenting.

I love this quote:

" Christian parenting is truly a sacred journey. It invites us parents to purify ourselves,

to use the process of raising kids to perfect holiness,

and to do this consistently, every day, out of reverence for God."

Tuesday

2012-01-24T22:37:00.001-06:00

The last two days we have had such nice weather that as soon as we get home from school, we have dropped everything and the boys and I have gone for a walk. I have decided that if we can make it a habit, it could quickly become a favorite thing of mine. It is just nice, it gets us away from the house and all the 'technology' that likes to call all of our names, it expends energy--they do a lot of running, going ahead on their scooters, and gives us a chance to talk about their day. Today, we decided to leave the scooters at home and I have to admit that I loved having them walk down the sidewalk with their little hands tucked into mine and hearing their chatter. At one point, they walked ahead of me and completely on their own, they start holding hands as they walk down the sidewalk talking away to each other. I tried to take some pictures because my fear is that someday in the not too distant future, they are not going to just naturally grab the other's hand.

And then a few pictures of William since Xavier got center stage yesterday:

this second one needs some editing help, but it is late and I am not sure what to do, but I still kind of love it because you can see his freckles. And I know I am his mommy, but I think those blue eyes are going to break all kinds of hearts one day.

Also, thought I would add on here my layout from last week:

From the weekend

2012-01-23T22:32:00.000-06:00

I spent some time going through and editing a few pictures from this weekend. We have seriously crazy weather here in Oklahoma. It literally doesn't seem like it can make up its mind whether we are having winter weather or warm weather. On Saturday, the early morning temperatures were frigid and by Sunday afternoon, it was seventy. And it has been teeter tottering like that for the last several weeks. I can't complain too much because it has given us opportunities to play outside and go 'scootering' in the words of the boys. Anyway, I thought I would share a couple of pictures:

As always, there are lots of things that I want to critique on this one, but I love the look on William's face and I kind of like that you can see my shadow taking their picture. They had SO much fun riding their scooters and have finally learned how to balance and ride on them rather than just kick their legs and propel themselves with seemingly reckless force.

While there were a few trips down the sidewalk like this one, the majority of the afternoon was spent 'slingshotting' (this was the term they used) on the actual driveway, kind of like going in an ever decreasing circle. I kind of felt like it was short track speed skating on scooters. I wonder if that will ever be an Olympic sport?

Xavier was doing something that earned him a little 'time out' and I completely bribed him that if he smiled for a picture, I might let him up a minute early. Still haven't decided if that was the best parenting decision, but it completely paid off with this picture:

Of course, this is quickly becoming his favorite face to make when I say I want to take his picture:

One day, I am going to do a post filled with the MANY photos I have of him just like this.

(side note: yes, I know that their hair is desperately in need of a hair cut. Also, they had taken a nap and Xavier always has wicked bed head. And it was really windy.)

I actually have lots of thoughts from this weekend, but not quite sure I have it in me to type it out. I made a visit to see a friend who is in the end stages of cancer. My heart breaks for her, for her family, for any one who is facing cancer, whose loved one is facing cancer...it is a tightrope of knowing how to pray, to always ask and believe that God can heal and when do you come to the point that you recognize that healing (as we are asking for) is not going to happen...ultimate healing? oh yes, there will be that...but there is still heartbreaking grief on this side of heaven. She and her family have just filled my thoughts and prayers since Saturday, even more than they already had. Praying for peace and comfort and continuing to ask for a miracle of miracles, because is I believe anything of my God, it is that He is able, and as her sister said to me as we said goodbye, "He is mighty to save."

Wednesday's Words

2012-01-18T22:07:00.000-06:00

For our morning devotion time, the boys and I have been reading Jesus Calling: 365 devotions for kids. It includes a short devotional reading and then some additional Scriptures to look up and read. Since both boys still sit on my lap and right next to me in my recliner, I have been looking up the verses on my phone's YouVersion Bible. The other day, we had read the verse and they were looking at my phone and noticed the little volume button that indicates that you can listen to that passage and so we hit the button. They listened spell bound to the entire reading of Joshua 1 and then proceeded to say, 'that is so awesome, maybe tomorrow we can listen to chapter 2, because chapter 2 is going to be so sah-weet.' Oh that their tender hearts would always long to hear God's Word spoken!

The other night we were sitting eating dinner and Xavier exclaims, "umm, mommy, my foot is about to be fuzzed, my left foot is about to get fuzzed.." Silence from us as we try to figure out exactly what 'fuzzed' means. "do you mean it is getting all tingly?" "yeah, it is about to get fuzzed!"

I am regularly surprised at the words that the boys are throwing around these days as their vocabulary continues to grow. But, somedays, I am reminded that they are six years old. Like tonight on the way home from church when Xavier wanted to know when we got that crack in our 'shinwield." I am pretty sure he meant windshield.

From my Jesus Calling devotional from yesterday when I found out that I am most likely going to have to find a new job: "Come to Me with your needs, knowing that My glorious riches are a more than adequate supply. Stay in communication with Me, so that you can live above your circumstances even while you are in the midst of them."

From Jesus Calling today as I sat overwhelmed with the unknown of the coming months: "Learn to trust me when things go 'wrong.' Disruptions to your routine highlight your dependence on me."

Nine years ago today, Micah and I promised to love each other in sickness and in health, in good times and bad....so thankful for our nine crazy full years together. I can't imagine anyone else I could have spent these years with. So thankful for my sweet husband and the crazy adventure that we have been on.

And finally, if you have had enough of Wednesday's Words, you completely should check out my sister's Wordless Wednesday post, because seriously...wow.

Birthday Fail, Take 2

2012-01-16T22:29:00.001-06:00

It has been a week at our house, let me tell you.

We spent Tuesday and Wednesday of last week staying in as Xavier recovered from his little stomach bug. The boys went back to school on Thursday and we thought all was returning to normal. Friday night, the boys were spending the night with their grandparents and Micah and I were supposed to go out for dinner and a movie to celebrate our anniversary that is coming up this week. Unfortunately, Micah woke up with the stomach bug on Friday, which obviously put our date night on hold. But, I was still making plans for the boys' birthday celebration that we were supposed to have on Saturday. They wanted to go to Ollies for a little celebration with our family that lives locally and they had put in requests for a Green Lantern cake (Xavier) and a Lego cake (William).

I managed to find inspiration online for their cakes and set out to make them. For William, I found this cake and instructions that honestly didn't seem too overwhelming to me, but let me tell you, it takes an inordinate amount of food coloring to make primary colored icing and an inordinate amount of arm strength to mix in food coloring to small amounts of icing. I spent a good three hours on Friday night making attempts at icing their cakes and trying desperately not to end up on a cake wrecks blog. I finally finished up and just decided that I was going to be happy with them and be hopeful that the boys would be happy.

I woke up Saturday morning to a phone call from my mother in law telling me that William had been throwing up.

score.

To be honest, I spent the next few hours trying to figure out what to do with the cakes, when we could plan to have their celebration, etc. But, in the end, we just decided to show them their cakes when they got home, let Xavier eat some of his on Saturday and see how William was doing on Sunday and just let them open their presents. So, when they got to our house, we covered their eyes and took them into the kitchen and showed them their cakes and this was their response:

They were so sweet and the hugs and the 'I love it, this is what I have always wanted' comments completely made the three plus hours I spent the night before completely worth it. Later, as Xavier was having a piece of his cake, he got this little smile on his face, looks at me, and says "I just love my cake. Thank you for making it for me, mommy." Yes, my heart just melted. Sweet sweet boys. Oh, would you like to see my fancy cakes?

For the life of me, I couldn't figure out a great way to photograph them. Do you like my foil covered pans for the display?

We spent the day watching movies, playing the Wii, and taking naps. And that is also how we spent yesterday, because I woke up with a very queasy stomach myself that persisted all day long until about 8 last night. Fortunately, everyone seems to be on the mend today. Micah headed back to work and the boys and I spent the day doing laundry and checking things off of a list of things that they could do today. It was beautiful weather, so we headed out for a walk (this was on our list!) and ended up at the playground. I took a ton of pictures and didn't think I had gotten any good shots, but sat down tonight to upload/process/delete (which is my new daily photography goal) and decided that I just might have gotten a few keepers and decided to add them to a template that was included in my template set that I am using for P365:

I probably had 60 photos of them going down the slide like that and in almost every single one of them Xavier's mouth was wide open like that. They had so much fun!

So far, staying current on my P365...yes, I realize this is just week 2, but I am taking every small victory I can!

Friday Letters

2012-01-14T07:00:00.000-06:00

One of my goals for this year is to participate in a blog called Friday Letters. Basically, it is a prompt each week for a writing a letter to your kids. Some weeks they are lighthearted, others they are more serious and retrospective, but the goal is to take 15 minutes and write what comes to you when you read the prompt. This was my first attempt. I set the timer on my phone for fifteen minutes and just started typing.

Prompt: Do you believe in life goals, if so, share one.

I definitely believe in life goals. Our most important goal is to be like Christ. To model the behavior that He shared with us through His Word the Bible. Since becoming your mommy, one of the goals dearest to my heart is to instill in each of you a love for God's Word, a passion to know it, to commit it to memory, and most importantly to love Jesus with all of your hearts. Sometimes, that goal overwhelms me and I am reminded of my own failures time and time again to model this behavior for you. I just want you to know that there is nothing more worthy, more excellent that we can attain to. To know Him and to make Him known. I hope that the times that we spend together reading His word, talking to Him and about Him...I hope and pray that those are the moments that stick. That even if you don't forget the moments when your daddy and I have failed miserably at modeling Christ-like behavior, I hope that we can come back to you and let you see that we know that we have failed and that God offers forgiveness and grace. And even as I say that that is one of my life goals, I also know that the time will come when you have to make those decisions on your own. You have to 'own' the belief and live it out. I pray each day that we are doing the right thing to help you on that journey and that when the time comes, you will be able to step out confidently in the direction that God has for each of you. I want you to know that there is nothing in this world that could compare to what we have when we stand before the throne of His grace and know that we know that we know that He is good, that He is present, that He loves us unconditionally. As precious as you are to me, you are both infinitely more precious to Him and I long for you to know that and to live confidently in that knowledge.

Wednesday's Words

2012-01-11T09:47:00.000-06:00

We have been watching Rachel vs. Guy: Celebrity Cookoff on the Food Network and William insists on calling it Rachel vs. "Big Guy". I think he is confused with the title of Guy's other show called Guy's Big Bite.

One night at supper this week, we were talking about table manners since I had gotten an email to parents from their teacher saying that there have apparently been some students who are not exhibiting good table manners at lunchtime. William was telling me that the little boy he was sitting next to had bumped his arm and he dropped the last little bit of his sandwich and so he had to throw it away, because "we do NOT eat off the floor....everyone else from our class eats off the floor, 'cept me and my brudder, the Derby family does NOT do that." Glad to hear it.

During one of the times Xavier and I were up during the night he had his stomach bug, he looked at me with a sad little face and says, "this night is not going very good." No, buddy, it sure isn't.

I still call them both by names I gave them when they were little babies. William is my baby doll and Xavier is my baby boy. I realize that the older they get, the less they will like these names and so I try to not overdo it. The other night, Xavier wanted to be reminded what I called him..."William is your baby doll, who am I?"

Last year on their birthday, I convinced them that I wasn't going to 'let' them turn five unless they promised that they were always going to sit on my lap and snuggle with me. A few weeks ago, we were talking about their upcoming birthday and they both wanted to know what they had to do this year so that they could turn six. We finally settled on the fact that they were going to always clean up their room really quickly. We'll see how that goes!

As promised, here are the video interviews I did yesterday--such sweet voices. I must remember to do this kind of stuff more often. William is up first, then Xavier:

Happy Sixth Birthday

2012-01-10T17:34:00.001-06:00

I can hardly believe that my little bitty babies

are now six years old!

I had grand plans for lots of fun stuff today, but last night as I was going to bed, I heard a peculiar cough coming from their room and walked in to Xavier sitting up (on the top bunk) literally losing his dinner. Yeah, fun times. After we got him down and his bed cleaned up, he spent the rest of the night in our room and he and I were up and down many more times over the next several hours. Needless to say, we have spent the day at home (I kept William home as well, because no one really wants the sick kid's brother at school to share the germs), cuddled up on the couch and chair watching Planet Earth and National Geographic interspersed with a few games on the Wii. At the moment, I am trying to summon up the wherewithal to go and cook dinner. I am hoping desperately that the rest of us don't catch his bug, but my stomach is not feeling so awesome.

I did video little interviews with each of them this afternoon and will hopefully post them tomorrow. Right now, here are some fun observations that I have about my sweet little boys.

they love nature programs on television and will often choose Planet Earth or any number of National Geographic shows on Netflix over cartoons
they are LOVING the Wii
they can be the slowest eaters on the face of the planet...unless there is something happening after dinner that they really want to get to
they are SILLY and they find words like undies, underwear, diaper completely hysterical
Xavier likes PB&J, William prefers PB (no J)
they both like ketchup on their ham and cheese sandwiches, Xavier likes to add mustard too (I find both combinations disgusting)
they LOVE to sing, although truth be told, Xavier probably loves to sing more, while William really likes to dance
they are both very expressive with their words and motions
Xavier's favorite spot to sit is next to me in the recliner, William prefers to lay on the couch
Xavier is such a pleaser, while William is more of his own person and doesn't always care what others think. As a result, Xavier is doing awesome in learning to read. William is doing well, but he would much prefer to let Xavier read to him.
Their teacher tells me that they are both very independent at school, but that she loves to see how they always come back together and are the best of friends.

Happy Birthday, sweet boys, I can't wait to see what the next year holds!

Multitude on Mondays

2012-01-09T22:30:00.000-06:00

I am still counting gifts, although I confess to some days being better about it than others. There is a handy little app for it now, but I still find that I want to write them down in my notebook. After carrying it with me for over a year now, I find it is kind of like an old friend and as much as I love technology, I also love having something that I can physically hold in my hands.

a new year and the hope for what it holds
sweet, sweet spirit in church (this got written down in various forms for the last several weeks)
powerful reminders of how Jesus is the story of the Bible and how we each desperately need Him
prayers for baby Addison to grow up to be a Christian
morning phone calls from Micah
sweet emails, calls, texts, facebook messages from friends who are rejoicing with us in good news
boys' excitement over learning to read
our new worship pastor
that he and his wife are our friends from college
sharing our love of Penzeys
He is our shield (I keep reading this over and over in my Bible readings and it brings such comfort to my heart)

My sister Elizabeth sent me this photo of Addison yesterday and I think it helps illustrate just how tiny my sweet little niece is:

The good news is that she seems to be doing really well. Just trying to gain weight keep growing.

The boys turn six tomorrow--how is that even possible? They are so excited about their birthday this year. Well, they are actually just excited about life in general, but since tomorrow is their birthday, I am going to blame it on that. They have started bringing home 'readers' from school each day and they are SO excited to read and show me their progress each day. It is so sweet to hear them read, but seems a bit surreal, it doesn't seem like they should be old enough to read.

As part of my New Year's resolutions, I am determined to get caught up on scrapping. Seriously, there is no way to go back and actually scrap every cute photo I have of the boys. And since I didn't start scrapping until they were almost two years old, there is a lot that is not going to get done. So, I am trying to just go through and do monthly recaps from their first year. I have managed to get two pages done in the last week and I am counting that a success when I consider that I probably went through 800-900 photos and culled them down to these two month in review pages.

2012, Week 1

2012-01-08T21:26:00.002-06:00

First week done!

Thankful

2012-01-05T21:53:00.000-06:00

I posted this on Facebook already, but I wanted link up Melissa's blog here as well. She had to see her doctor this morning and got some really good news. I have been hearing from friends all day as they have rejoiced with us and it has been a blessing to me. I am so thankful for some 'breathing room' (as one dear friend put it) for Melissa and for her family.

Wednesday's Words

2012-01-03T21:21:00.000-06:00

I am thinking that this post is way over due and I was only able to remember the things from the last couple of days. I really need to be more consistent about writing it all down. Maybe that should be a New Year's Resolution! :)

The boys had gotten some money for Christmas and we had gone to Target on Monday to see what they had. While we were there, William would look at how big a box was and declare very loudly, "NO, that's too ex-SPEN-sive!"
Then, yesterday, at Walmart, they each found stuff that they wanted and I let them hand their money over to the cashier, who, in turn, handed them each a receipt. Xavier clasped his tightly in his hand all the way to the van and then proceeded to ask me to read him the receipt.
"Sah-weet" is Xavier's new favorite expression
We have a craft cabinet where they like to stash all their papers and crafts and I tolerate it for a few months before making them go through it and only keep a few. When they were going through it this week, I kept hearing William say things like, 'oh I just love this little guy, he is so cute.' in reference to a little paper airplane made from black construction paper.
Over the weekend, we had been praying for my sister Liz and baby Addison (who is doing well, by the way) and when it was Xavier's turn, he very sincerely prays that "baby Addison will grow up and that Aunt Liz and Uncle Michael will teach her about God." After he prayed, he looks up and says, "what? I just really want her to grow up and be a Christian." So do we, buddy.
When I asked them what they were most excited about going back to school for, Xavier immediately responds with 'recess and lunch.' William on the other hand declares that he can't wait to learn more about 'God and new stuff.'

Favorite things from 2011

2012-01-03T16:50:00.000-06:00

Yes, I realize that it is now 2012, but I have been trying to think of things that I loved from 2011 and thought I might as well share them. Someone else might find them interesting and they just might make a good scrapbook page one day and at any rate, it is a good exercise to make myself sit down and record them.

My favorite things from 2011:

1. One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp--honestly, if I had to pick one thing that really 'marked' me in the year 2011, it would have to be this book. I started reading it at the beginning of the year and read each chapter at least twice in the first reading then read through it again in the summer months with a group of ladies at church. I saw the word/principle 'eucharisteo' come up in so many Bible studies, I heard snippets of it in my head throughout the year, I repeated quotes to others, it challenged me and helped me grow in my faith as I opened my eyes to look for God's grace in my daily life

2. Just how much my boys love to color and craft--give them some markers/crayons, some paper, glue, and scissors and they will sit for hours. I have a lot of photos like this from the year and it is a common 'picture in my mind' because it is most often the view from the kitchen as I am cooking or cleaning.

3. Going hiking (or our easy version of it) with the boys. Even though I am not a huge outdoors fan, our getaway to Broken Bow and small explorations of the hiking trails close by have been a fun addition to family life.

4. While the reason for so many trips to Nashville is not a favorite thing, the extra time with family and friends has certainly been special. From the hours spent with Melissa in the hospital to the late night hysterical laughter with Kari on one trip to shopping with my mom and sisters or seeing The Help with my sisters and the quick little visits for coffee that I squeezed in with others, all of those things together made for some really sweet memories.

5. Cupcakes--we started watching Cupcake Wars at the beginning of the year and I baked a LOT of cupcakes. This recipe for Red Velvet ended up being our favorites and I used that recipe for cake balls this year.

6. Finishing up my books with the the Pictures of the Day from the first year of the boys' lives. I don't think I ever blogged about finishing them up, but I DID get them finished and printed up for Micah for Father's Day. It was a bit of an ~~ordeal~~ project, but I am so happy to have them done.

7. Making a new friend and seeing relationships deepen. I have had the privilege of having a lot of really sweet and close friendships with some amazing women. Unfortunately, most of those women live in other parts of the country or world. I have often dealt with loneliness since we have been in Oklahoma. And if I am honest, some of that has been my own fault. We are in a crazy season of life with Micah in school, the reason we moved to Oklahoma, working from home--there are a lot of factors. But, one of my favorite things from this year was meeting another mom at the boys preschool. Her daughter was in the boys' class, they had just moved from Colorado for her husband's job, they had lived in Germany while he was in the Army---from our first lunch together at a McDonalds so they kids could play, I knew that we were going to be friends. They ended up going to our church, she loves photography, and we have been walking/running together since school started. I am so thankful for her friendship and how God brought her into my life at just the right moment.

8. Finishing Project 365. I love our book, can't wait to get it printed and am excited about doing it again this year.

9. Soccer--it was so much fun seeing the boys play and improve.

10. Micah finishing the classroom portion of med school. You have no idea unless you have been there, serious joy and definitely a favorite thing from 2011.

11. (I figured I should have 11 since it was 2011) By far my favorite thing about last year is knowing that it was the year that my boys decided to follow Jesus. Since they were little, we have prayed and talked to them about what it means to ask Jesus into their hearts and follow Him. We have said prayers together. We have learned Scripture together. At several points this year as we had been reading a devotion or listening to something and the topic came up, I would talk with them about asking Jesus into their heart. The mom in me wanted to be there to hear them say the words and to 'lead' them to Jesus. But, time and time again, as we would talk about heaven and how we know whether or not we are going to heaven, they would both tell me that they had already asked Jesus into their hearts 'a couple months ago' (in Xavier's words). So, we would talk about what that means. In their sweet little five year old way, each of them separately and multiple times have told me what it means and that they most certainly have asked Him in and that He lives in their hearts. So, who were we to argue with them? So, while I didn't get to 'hear' them ask Jesus to come and live in their hearts, I am confident that He does, because I see them growing in their prayers and their knowledge of Him. And that without a doubt is my favorite part of 2011.

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T21:45:00.000-06:00

We started the year off by heading to church where it was packed and where there was also a very sweet spirit. The boys (all three of them) spent a majority of the afternoon enjoying the new Wii--I have attempted a few games with them, but honestly my skill level on video games is FAR below my boys and that is saying something. I am not sure which of the three is the most excited about having a game system. We went to my in-laws house for an impromptu dinner and then the adults watched Sherlock Holmes downstairs while the boys watched Veggie Tales upstairs.

It was a nice quiet way to start the year. We are going to enjoy one more fun day tomorrow as a family before real life kicks into high gear on Tuesday when Micah heads back to work. This year will, I am sure, bring lots of challenges as he spends the year on rotations--several of which will be out of town. But at the end of this year, he will only have a couple of rotations before he is finished with medical school--how crazy is that?

Thought I would share a couple more photos from our little family photo shoot yesterday (ignore the fact that the wall is a different color blue in the two photos and that the boys aren't quite crisp in the first one, I still decided it was a cute picture!) as well as some scrapping I have gotten done. I am trying to actually scrap our Christmas pictures before next year, because I am never going to catch up at the rate that I am going. Oh, and I am tacking on the final install of Project 365 for 2011...so prepare for image overload!

Goodbye, 2011

2011-12-31T21:06:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, as I was finishing up the last pages from my P365 project, I was trying to think of a way to recap the year and to note what I wanted to remember from this year. I don't know that I have it figured out, because it has been a doozy of a year, capped off by a pretty eventful week for my family. Last year at this time, I was reading all about everyone's One Little Word (as explained by Ali Edwards) and while I had never chosen one little word for myself and didn't 'officially' choose one for 2011, I remember spending a lot of time focusing on the word 'persevere' and the Scripture from Galatians 6:9 "and let us not grow weary in well doing, for in due season, we will reap if we faint not." (as memorized from the KJV!) That word just applied to so many areas of my life:

parenting--the boys who I love more than life itself are a bit of a handful and Micah was gone and busy for a LOT of this year
my role as wife and caretaker of the house
exercise and healthy eating
my spiritual walk, memorizing Scripture, counting gifts, growing in my faith

In all of those areas, so often I know what to do, not that I have it all figured out, I am just saying that so often I know what to do, it is a matter of doing what I know to be the right thing and doing it consistently. So, if I could remember to persevere, to not give up the 'well doing' then I knew that Scripture promises that we will reap a harvest. I don't know that I was able to reap all the harvest I wanted to this year, but I know that God taught me much about Himself and I do feel like I persevered through 2011.

A little bit earlier, I looked through a slideshow of my project 365 pages from this year. We have had a lot of good times. We have spent some sweet times together as a family and with our extended family and friends. Micah finished up his classroom part of med school, passed his Step One boards, and completed six of twenty rotations. The boys turned five years old and started kindergarten. We have celebrated birthdays and anniversaries and I think I learned how to use my camera a bit better. And while there are lots of smiles and happy days reflected in the pictures, I feel like they belie the underlying heartache and grief that also visited so often this year. And yet, I also wonder if those happy smiles and pictures are a way of persevering as well--choosing joy, choosing to be thankful even in the midst of great sadness, choosing to see the little lives that are growing and changing right in front of us. This year has been difficult, I will not lie, and it is one in which I have 'sown' the Scriptures many times in tears (Psalm 126:5a), yet time and time again, I have found that we can come out on the other side 'reaping with joyful shouting (Psalm 126:5b).

This year has certainly not been what we expected. Today, in fact, is not what we expected or planned for. We were supposed to be saying goodbye to my sister and her family and parents this morning and sending them on their way while we cleaned house and recuperated from a week of fun with the cousins. Instead, our house was quiet. Melissa and family didn't get to come at all and my parents and brother headed out after only a few days. And my sweet little niece who wasn't supposed to arrive until late February was born nine weeks early. So, no, this year or this week has not been what we expected or planned for, but honestly, what year or week is?

So, tonight, I say goodbye to 2011--a year that cost much, but also yielded much. And tomorrow, we will start in on another year, hoping and trusting for eyes to always be open to the goodness that He gives daily.

Happy New Year and best wishes for 2012!

Crazy day

2011-12-29T21:14:00.000-06:00

I woke this morning to a text from my sister asking if my parents were going to be driving to Nashville. I very groggily replied that I didn't think so, but why? I immediately woke up when I got her text back telling me that my other sister Elizabeth was having a c-section at 6:30. Her baby wasn't due until February 29th, so this was definitely a shock. I came out and talked to my mom who had been talking and texting with Liz. Apparently, through the night, she was having extreme back and abdominal pain that sent her to the hospital and when she got to there, her blood pressure was dangerously high. They diagnosed her with preeclampsia and wisely delivered her sweet little baby girl this morning:

Addison

2 lbs 14 oz

Both Addison and Elizabeth seem to be doing as well as can be expected. Liz is worn out and they are watching her very closely. Addison is going to be in the hospital for several weeks, but the nurses and doctors were all encouraged that she was crying as soon as she was born. I know that it will be a long road ahead of them, but tonight we are thankful for the fact that both are safe and sound with doctors and nurses taking good care of them.

So, my parents and brother headed out the door shortly before seven to drive to Nashville. Then, later today, Melissa had her appointment with the surgeon to discuss her gall bladder that has been causing so much pain for her this week. She spent about seven hours at the doctor's office and doing tests and scans and has yet another follow up tomorrow morning. It was not all encouraging news for her since he told her that if she does have to have the gall bladder surgery, then it will most likely be a major surgery and not a laparoscopic one.

The day is feeling pretty surreal, to be honest. I have found myself trying to decide all day between packing up my car and driving to Nashville and trying to decide if right now is the best time to go. Living far away from my family is not my favorite thing on a good day, but on a day when there is so much going on in both of their families, it is really hard. I have been thinking on a Scripture recently from Psalm 125:2 "as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people" and that thought just keeps resonating through my mind tonight as I think about my sisters. I love the picture that those words bring to my mind and I am praying that they will both know the comfort of His surrounding presence.

Disappointed

2011-12-26T18:58:00.000-06:00

We celebrated Christmas and had really a wonderful two days with Micah's family and then today, our plan was to seriously clean our house--it was in desperate need--since my mom, dad, brother, and sister Melissa and family were coming for a week. Unfortunately, Melissa ended up in the ER early this morning after having severe abdominal pain all night long. It seems that she has gall stones and is way too sick to travel. I am sad and disappointed for all of us, we so love our time together. And I am just frustrated for Melissa. I just want her to be able to catch a break, to have a bit of time without some sort of medical event, and to enjoy the holidays with her family. I have spent the entire day praying and asking God and trying to find some good. I am thankful that it did not happen while they were on the road or already here, it would have been much more difficult if that had been the case.

And I am thankful that my parents are still coming, it was up in the air for several hours whether they should just travel on to Nashville or not. In the end, they are coming here knowing that if they need to, they can get in the car and go on to Nashville.

We did just skype with her, which makes me feel a bit better to see her. She is very tired and I am praying that she gets some rest tonight and is able to see a doctor first thing in the morning who can help her. And my parents will be here in just a few minutes, so the pictures that I was going to post will have to wait. Looking forward to some fun times with them!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

From our family to yours,

I hope your day is filled with joy and many

sweet memories as we celebrate the birth of Savior and

that you are able to take a few minutes today

to remember and appreciate that He is

Emmanuel, God with us.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-25T00:04:00.000-06:00

I am writing this while we still have 30 minutes before Christmas is officially here. I just know that in the craziness of the next few days, I may have little to no time to blog and wanted to give a quick recap and share a few pictures from our evening.

The day started with Micah letting me sleep in while he got up with the boys which was a special treat in itself. We managed to spend a majority of the day cleaning and organizing and doing laundry in preparation for the great Hale family invasion set to take place in T-minus 48 hours. My parents and brother and my sister Melissa and her family (unfortunately, my little sister's husband works for UPS and they don't really let them take off around this time of year, so they aren't able to come) will all be arriving on Monday. So, I am making some last ditch efforts to organize my house and get ready for their visit. We went to my in-laws house tonight and celebrated with Micah's entire family being together for Christmas on Christmas for the first time in many many years. In fact, I don't think that in our entire married life (almost 9 years) have we been together on Christmas Eve and Day. I made a birthday cake for Jesus and as I was making it and remembering just how good of a cake it was, I typed up the recipe to share. I attempted some photos that were so unsuccessful, I can't even post them (which is saying something, because I do not always post perfect photos!). But, here is the recipe. My friend Kari made this for a bridal tea she held for me (9 years ago) and it has been one of my favorite cakes since.

Awesome Triple Chocolate Cake

(disclaimer, I don't know that it is technically called awesome, but I think it is so I added that in to the title!)

1 devil's food cake mix

3/4 c water

3/4 c oil

4 eggs

1 pkg instant chocolate pudding

1/2 c sour cream

Beat for 10 minutes

Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes in bundt pan or 25-30 minutes in mini cake pans.

Let cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a plate. When cool, sift powdered sugar over the top and enjoy!

Late this afternoon, we headed over to Micah's parents house where my mother in law had her table beautifully decorated for the evening:

We had soup and panini sandwiches, sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and had cake and many many goodies. Then, it was time to read the Christmas story and open the first presents which were Christmas pajamas for all the grandkids. Linda had looked long and hard for the perfect PJs and felt like she had found them when she discovered these for the youngest grandkids.

We are thinking they aren't going to get much wear out of them, but they were cute and they were thrilled to pieces with them!

And Grandma always wants a picture of the grandkids on the stairs:

We followed this up by opening a ridiculous amount of presents. We are blessed and spoiled every year. The kids had a great time and laughed and played and laughed some more.

Linda's last request for the evening was the we spend some time playing games and their family used to play Pictionary and so that was the game of the evening. We let the little guys play with us for a while, although they soon decided they would rather go and watch a movie. We seriously had some hilarious times as we each attempted to draw and then to guess what others were drawing.

This is the boys' cousin Q and while this isn't the clearest picture, I still love it because it completely communicates so much of his personality:

He was very intent on drawing his word and everyone had a great time guessing what it was:

The real laughs of the evening came from some of the adults attempts to draw things, like Micah's attempt at chimpanzee:

Let's just say that no one guessed correctly on that one! :)

We made it home around 9, unloaded the car and got the boys to bed. Then, Micah had the great idea of unwrapping the Wii that we bought for the boys and getting it all set up and plugged in and then wrapping the box back up so that it would just be ready to go when we get up in the morning. We are both pretty excited for them. We have been talking for a while now about how we might be getting a Wii for Christmas, but that if we did, then that would be it, that would be our family's Christmas. They were so funny tonight because they actually got a couple of Wii games for Christmas from their grandparents and we were coming home and William says that the only thing we were missing was that Wii 'box' (i.e. console). They, for the very first time, walked by the tree and said, "i wonder if one of those presents is a Wii 'box'" which was followed up by, "I think that maybe we need to buy a Wii because it is going to take a really long time before Christmas comes again." They are such sweet boys and I can't wait to see how excited they are when they realize that they do indeed get a Wii for Christmas.

Okay, it is now one minute to midnight, so I am stopping.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Tis the Season

2011-12-22T15:11:00.003-06:00

I don't pretend to think that we are busier than any one else, it is just that time of year for there to be things upon things upon things to go to and to get done. And this week has been just that for us. But, it has been good. If I haven't mentioned it (and I think that I have), I am just loving the Christmas season this year. This may be the first year ever (other than when we were in France) that we have not traveled and I have to say, that it is kind of nice. We are celebrating with Micah's family this weekend and then my family is coming next week (if you listen closely, you probably just heard a big 'woohoo!' because I am super excited about my family coming). But, just because we aren't traveling doesn't mean that we aren't busy....

Tuesday night, we went with Micah's mom and brother and family to the Christmas Train. The boys loved it and William's first words on waking up on Wednesday were to declare "I am so glad that we got to go to the Christmas Train!". Unfortunately, it was cold and misting fairly heavily, so there are very few pictures and it was probably not as enjoyable as it could have been, but it was definitely a fun outing and I know that we would enjoy going another year. Here we all are waiting in the depot with our boarding passes getting ready to board:

The park is run by a large church here in Tulsa and it is my understanding that all of the workers go to that church and I will say that the people working there were some of the most genuinely nice people I have ever encountered. I say that because I have sadly been to church events where the people working weren't exactly pleased to be there, but that was not the case at the Christmas Train, they were kind, pleasant, helpful, and having a good time themselves.

Yesterday, the boys and I spent the morning at a friends' house making some little care bags to take to my oncologist's treatment room. Hud (in the picture with them) is a thyroid cancer survivor himself and the boys love him. When I told the boys that he was making pancakes for us, William exclaimed "Hud can cook?!!" His mom Leslie is a dear friend of mine and fellow breast cancer survivor who has started an organization that provides help and support to families going through cancer treatment. We all had a great morning and it did my heart good to drop the bags off at the treatment room and see one of the nurses who took care of me.

Today is all about finishing up some work stuff, running errands, wrapping the last of the gifts, and making Christmas goodies. I made the second batch of Party Mix last night and it didn't quite have the 'oomph' that I was looking for and so I added some more seasoning and baked it a bit more this morning. When I had it all spread out on the counter, I decided that we might have enough Party Mix--it may be hard to tell from my amateur photography, but that is a LOT of party mix!

I am planning on finishing up my baking tonight and tomorrow so that we can deliver to a few friends around town and then, guess what? Saturday is Christmas Eve!! I hope your pre-Christmas week is going well.

In all your spare time, you should definitely go check out this post from my sister with her hair update--I can't believe how much it has grown in the last couple of weeks since I saw her--it looks amazing!!

Multitude on Mondays

2011-12-19T22:04:00.001-06:00

We had a great start to our week as I headed to orthotics place where I get my compression sleeve and glove each year (to keep my lymphedema in check) only to find out that my current insurance does not cover compression garmets, then back home where I started a load of laundry and heard some weird gurgling sound and came into the kitchen to see water backing up in the sink. Wait a minute, you say, I thought you said it was a great start to the week....oh yes, that should have been prefaced by the instruction to "read with sarcasm". Although the day did not start out that awesome, I will say that sitting here tonight I am feeling like the day hasn't been a complete waste. First, even though my insurance doesn't cover my sleeve and glove, the nice lady at the office gave me information for an organization where I can most likely get financial assistance for the lymphedema garments I need. And, I am choosing to be thankful that Micah got home early from work today and was there for the plumbing disaster that caused water to back up into the garage and so he took care of cleaning all of that out. The nice man from the Roto Rooter arrived a few hours later and cleared out whatever blockage we had and while it cost me $100 more than I wanted to spend on plumbing today, I am counting the day a success because the garage ended up much more organized than it started the day, I still managed to get my laundry done, got a few things ready for drop off at a consignment store, and even made homemade hot cocoa mix with the boys.

I love this post that my sister linked to today about giving thanks everyday.
And speaking of things I love...I love my sister and I absolutely hate what she faces each and every day, but as I told her this morning, her light shines so brightly. My heart just aches that it has to shine on the journey she is on.

Some gifts from this week:

opportunities to serve at Toys for Tots
lives that were changed
Christmas cards mailed
Christy being at church after chemo on Friday
The Hallelujah Chorus
homemade hot cocoa and Next Iron Chef finale with the boys
a sweet prayer from Xavier
fresh camembert cheese from our CSA

Yesterday at church, we sang this song that has just been repeating in my mind all day.

Forever Reign by Hillsong Live

(link is to a video on YouTube of the song)

You are good you are good

When there's nothing good in me

You are love you are love

On display for all to see

You are light you are light

When the darkness closes in

You are hope you are hope

You have covered all my sin

You are peace you are peace

When my fear is crippling

You are true you are true

Ever in my wandering

You are joy you are joy

You're the reason that i sing

You are life you are life

In you death has lost its sting

Oh i'm running to your arms

I'm running to your arms

The riches of your love will always be enough

Nothing compares to your embrace

Light of the world forever reign

You are more you are more

Than my words will ever say

You are lord you are lord

All creation will proclaim

You are here you are here

In your presence i'm made whole

You are god you are god

Of all else i'm letting go

Hallelujah forever

All the glory forever

All the praise to you

My heart will sing

No other name

Jesus Jesus

And I even scrapped a page about my sweet shepherds! :)

credits here

Weekend Stuff

2011-12-18T14:17:00.002-06:00

I had grand plans to write a blog post on Friday because it felt like very productive day:

finished all my Christmas shopping
mailed off some gifts
mailed my Christmas cards
made some serious headway in a pile of paperwork
got caught up on personal insurance EOBs/bills
all of this on top of having an ultrasound of my gall bladder/liver that seemed to have shown nothing interesting(yay!)

Then, I realized that none of that was actually very exciting and probably wouldn't make for very riveting reading and thus never made time to sit down and type up a blog post.

Yesterday was Toys for Tots and my first time to get to work the actual event. Seriously amazing. I don't know the exact numbers, but I know that there were close to 450 families registered (many with multiple children) and that we had an army of volunteers close to 400 strong. I arrived at the church around 11 and left sometime between 5 and 5:30 completely exhausted, but also pretty exhilarated after serving countless cups of coffee and cookies to our volunteers and guests. God definitely worked out so many details for the event and it was great to see our church come together for such a great opportunity to share the Gospel in our community.

This morning was the Christmas choir program at our church's north campus (we are a multi-site church and Micah's parents and brother and family go to the north campus, while we go to the south) and so we headed north to hear Micah's mom and sister in law in the choir. I really don't have words to describe how much I enjoyed it. I am just so loving Christmas music this year and while all the songs weren't necessarily 'Christmas', they definitely were about who Jesus is...our Savior and Redeemer. The boys for their program had memorized the passage from Isaiah that says, 'and He shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.' and I loved seeing Xavier sing along with the choir when he realized they were singing 'our verse.' William sat on my lap and swayed to the music the entire program asking me periodically about when they were going to sing about the wise men.

At the very end after singing "Mary, Did You Know?" and "Jesus, Blessed Redeemer", the choir moved into a portion of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah . I remember when I was a child (probably elementary age because it was while we were still living in Missouri) and I went with my mom to a community choir's performance of Handel's Messiah and the tradition is to stand for the Hallelujah chorus and I have this memory of standing next to my mom and looking up at her and seeing tears stream down her face as she listened to the music. I remember as a child not really understanding why she was crying, but I tell you that today, I understood. I stood with the congregation and listened to words and music composed so many years ago and I couldn't stop the tears from streaming down my face.

King of Kings, forever and ever

and Lord of Lords, forever and ever

And He shall reign for ever and ever.

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

I am still feeling like a weepy mess just writing about it. It was really powerful.

This afternoon, I am setting up a cake ball factory. I am making red velvet and chocolate--yes, I know that red velvet is basically chocolate, but red velvet gives us an excuse to use cream cheese icing instead of just regular buttercream. I have not been as productive as a baker as I normally am this time of year, so I guess I am trying to make up for it a bit by making two kinds of cake balls. I will be sure to take some pictures of the finished product!

Hope your Sunday is blessed today as we continue to celebrate His birth.

2011, Week 50

2011-12-17T20:53:00.001-06:00

Fifty weeks down, only two more to go!

Christmas Party

2011-12-15T17:03:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was the boys' class Christmas party. Although I am not homeroom mom (or whatever they call it), I always have so much guilt any time they ask for helpers because I have not just one, but TWO little 'angels'. But....if you know me very well, you also know that I get ~~slightly~~ extremely stressed out by small children in large numbers. I just don't know how the teachers do it--all of the little people running around, talking, laughing, kind of wears me out. Fortunately, there wasn't much to do yesterday besides getting the tables set up, handing out carrots and ranch dressing, and finally helping with a small craft. In fact, I am getting so comfortable in their classroom, I agreed yesterday to start coming in weekly to help listen to the children read--I think I might have had a fever yesterday when I agreed to that. I am looking forward to being able to see them a bit in their school environment. Obviously, it won't be the same as when I am not there, but I am always curious how they act when Micah and I are not around.

A few pictures...me and my boys...William is obviously not excited about this picture thing..

Micah's mom joined us and at one point, I was across the room helping another child with their craft and I looked up to see this...and proceeded to say "hang on a second" to the child I was helping so I could grab my camera and snap this one:

And our birthday cake for Jesus...I loved the little manger (their teacher has had this for several years and she just takes it home and washes it and brings it back every year...have I mentioned recently how much I love that their teacher loves Jesus?):

Cutest Shepherds on the block

2011-12-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

Last night was the boys' Christmas program at school with the other kindergarten classes. Serious cuteness, let me tell you. The night before was their cousin's program and I decided that night that hearing a group of kids proclaim loudly the Good News of Christ's birth just might be the sweetest thing ever.

While we were at my parents' house for Thanksgiving, the boys 'performed' their program at least three different times, so I wasn't too worried about them knowing the words. They seemed to get a little sleepy throughout (it was a common theme, I saw a LOT of yawns), but all of the kids did great....although, I am going to need to play back the video because there seemed to be a little excitement on the other side of the stage involving a child, his shepherds staff, and the teacher carrying him off stage.

Before we left for the program, I made the boys get their costumes on so that we could take advantage of what natural light there was.

The kids all came in blowing noisemakers since they were on their way to a 'birthday party' :

Xavier had a small speaking part towards the end of the program and while he occasionally gets self conscious in front of people, he had no qualms last night stepping right up and speaking clearly into the microphone.

On the very last song, they had motions and then were swaying back and forth. In the second photo, you can see how their right handed/left handed-ness comes into play--they both sway opposite ways...cracks me up every time and as their teacher says, it just goes to show their individuality.

And my favorite photo of my little shepherds:

Random Tuesday

2011-12-12T09:25:00.003-06:00

Nothing of real importance here today, just some random thoughts running through my mind:

Some favorite Christmas songs right:

From David Crowder Band's Oh For Joy album: "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" and "Silent Night"--you have to listen all the way to the end of both of them, he does some cool guitar stuff that I am loving
Barlowgirl's "Carol of the Bells/Sing We Now of Christmas"

The boys' school Christmas program is tonight and let's just say that I am excited. They are dressing as shepherds and are seriously cute!
This week is shaping up to be super busy with Christmas programs and parties, doctor's appointments, tests, and Toys for Tots on Saturday.....and did you know that even during busy weeks, your family has to eat and have clean clothes?
One of my favorite names for God for a long time has been Emmanuel (God with us) and I have been thinking over that a lot these days as I drive and listen to Christmas music. If we could just really understand what "God with us" means for us and let that soak in each day, I am thinking life starts to look a bit better.
Over the weekend, the boys were watching a Scooby Doo episode and I walked in and Xavier looks at me and says (with his head cocked to the side and out of the side of his mouth), "they just said the 's' word".... Me: "what's that?"... X: "they said 'stu' and then 'pid' after that" ....it kind of cracked me up!
Some dear friends from church lost their infant son this year and they are asking for help 'filling' Isaac's stocking. They have had such a testimony of trusting and resting in God in the midst of incredible heartbreak. Here is a link the blog post where she talks about how they want to honor Isaac this Christmas. I want our family to participate and am pondering just the right ways to do it.
My sister heads back to chemo today after a couple of weeks off. I am thinking about her alot and praying that this round will be gentle on her body.

I'll be back tomorrow with pictures of my little shepherds!

Multitude on Mondays

2011-12-12T09:24:00.001-06:00

Still counting gifts:

Isaiah 35:3-10 "Encourage the exhausted, strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious hearts, take courage, fear not, behold your God will come with a vengeance..."
an unexpected kid free evening
sleeping til 9:30 (see previous entry!)
decorating tree, listening to Christmas music, making chex mix
that God gives wisdom liberally when we ask for it (James 1:5)
Micah being home, cleaning kitchen, cooking supper while I read with the boys
a week without something every single night
coffee and conversation with a dear friend who loves the Lord
nightly reminders of how each story of the Bible points to Jesus

And a picture...the only slightly successful picture from our tree decorating adventure. William really wanted the pom pom of his hat pointing forward and Xavier is wearing the hat that I bought for him when he was a year old :)

Sunday Night

2011-12-11T21:20:00.001-06:00

I made myself sit down this weekend and get caught up on my Project 365 pages....it was not pretty. Fortunately, I am now current and even though I am not loving the pictures I am taking these days (there is just a very small window when the boys are actually home that there is enough light to take a decent photo), I am thankful to be caught up.

Yesterday morning was our town's annual Christmas parade. The last couple of parades we have walked with Micah's brother who is a part of the state legislature. This year, they were going for "A Christmas Story" theme and my boys just needed to be dressed warmly:

...and even though you can't see them, they each had wooden BB guns hanging on those yellow straps.

Friday

2011-12-09T13:42:00.001-06:00

Okay, how have we come to the second Friday after being home from our Thanksgiving trip? Seriously, the days are flying around here. I think I might have made it sound like I was stressed out in my last post and honestly, I am not. Sure, we are busy, but it has been a good busy and I am allowing myself some grace to not have everything done and perfect. It has been exceedingly helpful that Micah has had more free time and it is great having his help with emptying the dishwasher, helping getting supper started, and just little daily things that I have gotten used to doing by myself. I am going to try to not get used to it, because I know that his schedule won't always allow for it.

This morning, I had a coffee date with a friend and we had the best time visiting and just chatting about life and the holidays and the craziness of it all. Now, I am sitting at our church answering phones for registration for our Toys for Tots event that is happening next weekend. I am very excited to get to be here this year for the actual day of the event. I am feeling pretty thankful to be part of a church that has such a heart for the community and also thankful for all that God has blessed us with to be able to give to others. I am also realizing how much I am kind of enjoying being around people. Working from home is a huge blessing and for the most part, I am pretty thankful that I don't have a hard and fast schedule, but I am telling you that the last couple of hours of just being around people (talking to some, hearing others talk around me while I am working, and just seeing others come and go) has been really nice, makes me feel like I am a bit more a part of society.

So, I am still not editing photos, but I did manage to scrap not just one, but three pages this week!

the first two are with the December BYOC from the Lilypad and I am seriously in love with the colors.

This one used the free challenge template at the Lilypad and Emily Merrit's D is for Dapper kit:

This weekend, we have the Christmas parade in our little town and then our Young Survivor Christmas Party on Sunday afternoon and I am determined to get caught up on my P365 before I fall off the wagon.

And an update on the whole boys are being crazy and how I feel sorry for their teacher. Wednesday when I went to pick them up, Mrs. B brought them out to the car and I asked how she was doing. Her reply: "I am cranky!! not one of the kids is listening..." In the words of my brother-in-law who left this in the comments of my previous post "Honestly, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is pure torture for teachers." I had a feeling that was true. I am saying extra prayers for all the teachers in my life that God would heap blessings on them, because I am thinking it would not be pretty if I were in their shoes!

Catch Up

2011-12-07T12:48:00.001-06:00

Okay, so I confess that I have no idea where to start. I have been a bit overwhelmed with life and all that the holiday season contains (no big surprise there, right?) that I have begun making lists for myself. The last two days, that list has included blogging, but I couldn't bring myself to sit down and actually do it. I am pretty sure that some of the hesitation to blog has come from my desire to also post pictures and while I have still been taking pictures, I am feeling kind of in a slump as far as editing goes and my ability to edit and see them correctly and so it has become a slippery slope of wanting to blog, thinking I need to edit pictures, not wanting edit pictures, so I don't blog.

Good news for me is that my sister who is a way better photographer than I am was with us in Illinois for Thanksgiving and took most of the photos AND she blogged them. She posted some really awesome photos of pretty much the cutest kids you will ever see, so I recommend visiting these posts:

HERE

and

HERE

So, what have we been up to these weeks?

The boys have been seriously gearing up for the Christmas holidays. It is like we got back from Thanksgiving and the hyper activity level increased ten fold. I feel sorry every single day for their teacher because she has 18 in her class not just my two and in her words "yours are calm compared to some." Seriously, thank you, Lord, for teachers.

Micah has finished yet another rotation (5 of 20 down, woohoo, I just realized that he is 25% done!). He loved pediatrics more than he thought he would. This month, he is on psychiatry and while the hours are seriously awesome, he has busy work and also has been seeing some very sad, difficult cases. The boys and I are praying every night for him to be a bright spot in someone's day.

I am just catching up with work stuff, house stuff, and general life stuff (can someone let me know if I will ever get caught up? if not, I am not sure I want to know). I had a friend who had a new baby, so I got to go visit at the hospital and take dinner one night. Last week, I finished up some photo related holiday gifts and cards. My women's Bible study group also finished up our study of Beth Moore's Stepping Up Through the Psalms and if I can ever get to it, that deserves a post all of its own. The study was such an encouragement to me and came at just the right time. I am so thankful for all that I learned through this semester of study.

Our family....we put up our Christmas tree on Saturday which the boys loved doing. Taking pictures might have been a disaster and might have ended with me getting really frustrated because they wouldn't sit still which prompted me to stop taking pictures because, hello, it isn't about the pictures...right? I made party mix (aka Chex Mix) and hot apple cider while we decorated and then after the boys went to bed, Micah and I wrapped Christmas presents. We are also doing a Jesse Tree Advent reading each night before bed (this also deserves its own post) and I am trying my best not to get too stressed with the busyness of the season that I don't take time to truly appreciate and ponder on the reason. Some days, I am more successful at this than others.

For the most part, I think this catches us up. Hope my three readers are all well :) Maybe later this week, I can bring myself to edit some photos to post!

One Thousand Gifts, One Year Later

2011-11-28T21:50:00.001-06:00

Last year on November 29th, I wrote this post sharing the beginning of my journey to writing down one thousand gifts from God. Tonight, I am going to be posting my finished list of one thousand gifts. I have done a lot of thinking about the process as I have come down to these last few days. I certainly didn't know last year what this year would hold, but as I have worked at the discipline (sometimes more successfully than others) of naming the many many graces that come my way every single day, I can see clearly how God has used this in my life to constantly remind me to look to Him, the giver of all good gifts. I will definitely keep recording my gifts, but don't know that I will always list them all out on my blog, partly because I know that there will be times that I want to be more specific, but can't necessarily on a public blog. I want to keep posting some though, because it is always an encouragement to me to read others' lists and I hope in some way that reading my gifts spurs another on to look for the gifts in their own life.

982. A grandpa for my boys who willingly takes them to feed the horses

983. Photo recovery software

984. Sweet giggles and hugs from the boys

985. Gas for $2.95

986. A kind doctor for Micah

987. Scriptures that come readily to mind

988. Antibiotics for Melissa

989. Freshly roasted coffee

990. “angels we have heard on high…” sung by the man ringing the bell for the Salvation Army outside Sam’s

991. reading about a Compassion International trip to Ecuador by one of myfavorite bloggers

992. getting the Christmas Card done

993. starting the Jesse Tree Advent devotionals as family

994. the quiet in the house as I remember the giving of thanks this year

995. “Threshold of Glory” by Selah “magnificent one, merciful judge…omnipotent one, almighty friend, Youare always just, You are always good”

996. His constant presence in the moments….even the ‘kids-are-driving-me-crazy’ moments

997. Xavier

998. William

999. Micah

1000. My Father, forever gracingme with gifts big and small, He truly does satisfy my years with good things(Ps. 103: 5)

A thousand gifts

2011-11-28T13:42:00.001-06:00

We (well, the boys and I) spent the last week at my parents house in Illinois and apart from the fact that Micah didn't get to be with us, it may have been my favorite week this year. Seriously, time with my family is so precious and we had the absolute best time. I am so close to reaching my goal of writing one thousand gifts and have been trying to be extra vigilant to record those moments. That coupled with the fact that it has been a couple of weeks since I posted means that this is a pretty long list, so here we go:

898. A day without shoulder pain for the first time in several days

899. For having a husband who can adjust my back and help me be pain free(see above!)

900. My surgeon and her care for her patients

901. That I call her my friend

902. Homemade spaghetti sauce

903. Little boys learning to read

904. Headband to keep my ears warm on a cold morning

905. A smiling Heidi

906. Sharing the ‘practice’ of trusting with others whose loved one is ill

907. Recapping things learned in Bible Study this semester

908. A good smelling candle

909. The friend who gave it to me

910. Just how much Micah is enjoying his rotation

911. Sweet sweet spirit in Bible study

912. Analogy of grace and gratitude…as thunder always follows lightning…whenthe lightening of grace hits our lives, our response should always bethunderous praise

913. Psalm 132:15 (the Message) “I’ll shower blessings on the pilgrims who come here and give supper tothose who arrive hungry.”

914. Getting to scrap while oil was being changed (and actually finishing apage since it has been taking me forever to scrap recently)

915. Coming home to laundry started, kitchen cleaned (the way I like it andnot necessarily the normal Micah way) & floors vacuumed

916. DVR—being fixed….I don’t think the DVR has yet made the list and itmight be silly, but let’s be honest, I am thankful for it.

917. Better sleep

918. Micah getting to be off after a very long ‘day into night’ shift

919. Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast

920. Leaving a clean house

921. Excitement of seeing family

922. Exchanging encouraging Scriptures with a friend

923. The morning light coming up on fields as we drive

924. Safety on a long trip

925. Boys joy at putting on barn boots and heading out to feed the horses

926. Church with my parents

927. Reminder in Sunday School how as believers we ‘dare not’ look at ourlives as only today, but always look ahead to the future

928. Walking with my mom

929. All of my siblings at home (or my parents’ home) together

930. Watching the Cosby show with the whole family and kids

931. How the boys and Camden just disappear downstairs to play together

932. Another photo shoot with Melissa

933. Worn out kids from endless playing, running, riding horses with Grandpa

934. Finding a deal before Black Friday

935. Whitey’s ice cream

936. My brother making lunch for us

937. Then, keeping the boys while all the girls went shopping

938. Laughter together

939. Cosby show reruns

940. Cousins who have played hard and played well together (yes, it isshowing up again, but they were seriously good)

941. Safe travel for family

942. Micah’s spot on his face—not melanoma, but basal cell carcinoma

943. Cooperative children for pictures

944. Melissa not getting hurt when she fell

945. Counting blessings with my family

946. Being at Liz’s baby shower

947. Seeing old friends

948. The fun of seeing our kids enjoy each other

949. Sitting around talking/laughing late with family after everyone is gone

950. So many family members to mom and dad’s house for Thanksgiving

951. A thankful tree

952. Thanksgiving appetizers (Neiman Marcus, yummy cheese, etc.)

953. Thanksgiving Feast

954. Uncle Larry sitting on the floor of laundry room tying Rory’s shoes

955. My grandpa’s prayer at lunch

956. Hysterical laughter with my cousins at the ‘big’ kids table

957. Football in the backyard

958. A big family picture

959. A big group walk after the ‘feast’

960. The beautiful sky as the sun was setting

961. Sitting, visiting, eating throughout the day

962. How much my grandpa loves the Lord

963. A family prayer time for Melissa

964. Standing with my Grandpa Hale during prayer

965. How much fun the cousins have had and how good they have been

966. Nov 24—Jesus Calling: “Thankfulness takes the sting out of adversity…there is an element ofmystery in this transaction. Yougive me thanks (regardless of your circumstance) and I give you joy (regardlessof your feelings). This is aspiritual act of obedience..at times, blind obedience.”

967. Laughter and tears with my parents and sisters

968. How God knows what we need at the exact moment that we need it

969. Black Friday shopping with Melissa

970. A wiener roast with the kids

971. A photo with my brother and sisters

972. Reading through old letters, looking at old pictures

973. Reading through the ‘leaves’ of the Thankful Tree

974. Rain stopping on my trip home

975. Seeing Micah, being back together as a family

976. God’s grace

977. Sleeping in my own bed

978. A great night of sleep

979. Conversations of the heart

980. Reminder to rest in what we know is true in God’s word

981. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us fromALL unrighteousness.

And just one picture from last week. The boys were SO excited to get to grandma and grandpa's house last week and it took less than 10 minutes of arriving before they had their 'barn boots' on and were out to see the horses and feed with my dad. So thankful for a grandpa that takes time with his grandsons (I am thinking that needs to be added to my list!)

2011, Week 44

2011-11-19T21:30:00.000-06:00

Almost caught up!

Best day of the week

2011-11-18T20:53:00.001-06:00

The boys and I are heading out of town tomorrow for an entire week at my parents' house. I am so excited! It has been close to two years (I think) since we have been there and I am feeling way overdue for a visit to their house. We normally spend Thanksgiving here with Micah's family, but because of Micah's schedule this year, I knew that we would most likely not be able to travel at Christmas and since the boys get out of school for an entire week, I decided that I would pack us up and go and spend it with my parents. We have a LOT of family that will be joining us for Thanksgiving and I am so looking forward to seeing my grandparents, some aunts and uncles, and even cousins.

After getting back into town last week and trying to reclaim my house, I have to admit that I was kind of dreading the whole getting ready to leave again. But.....yesterday turned out to be awesome. Micah was going to be working a noon to midnight shift and so when I got home from dropping the boys off to school and getting the oil changed (where I also managed to scrap a page on my laptop), I found the laundry sorted and started, the kitchen completely cleaned--the way that I would clean it (this is key), and the whole house vacuumed. I can't even begin to say how much that pretty much made my week. This is probably the least stressed I have been before a trip in a long time and I am so thankful for my sweet husband helping me so much. Why is it that having a clean house makes everything so much better/easier?

So, we are headed out for a week of fun and family bright and early in the morning. As always, who knows if and when I will make time to blog, but you can guarantee that there will be coffee drinking, good food eating, lots of laughter, and sweet times that will be happening.

Here is the page I scrapped while the oil in the car was being changed and also a photo from last weekend at a park where we held and impromptu photo shoot.

credits here

Wednesday's Words

2011-11-16T21:11:00.001-06:00

When the boys got in the car this afternoon, they were very insistent on the fact that after their Thanksgiving Feast on Friday, they were going to nine weeks off of school. An email from their teacher this evening informing parents that we will be off for nine days and to please remember to work on the letters and sounds that they have been diligently learning.

We were eating lunch one day and I had given them a pear for 'dessert' and Xavier was asking why we were eating pears and William pipes in with "because they're the yummiest part of meal, that's why!"

I am not sure why we were talking about this tonight at bedtime--I am sure they were doing everything in their power to prolong the actual going to bed process. But, they were asking about babies and sleeping and I told them that when they were babies, they would wake me up through the night to eat/have a bottle and Xavier comes out with, 'so, we were nocturnal when we were babies?' Well, I guess you could say that! He thought that was hilarious.

This entire week, the boys have been wearing their pajamas backward and keep telling me that they are wearing them 'camoflauge'....as in "you can't see me, because my pajamas are backwards which makes them camoflauge"...completely cracking me up. In addition to that, they are also layering their pajamas (i.e. wearing two different sets of pajamas, one a short sleeved/shorts combo worn over the top of some long sleeved/pants...I am including a picture below, because it makes me laugh.) Tonight, I was wondering why they were taking so long to get their pajamas on and they were in their room meticulously picking out their outfits.

Yes, I know that William is not looking at the camera, but this was the best I could get. They were bouncing off the walls!

And let me just add a couple of things that I am so thankful for right now--these will be going on my gifts list, because I am so close to 1000 and am hoping to hit that by next Thursday almost a year to the day that I started.

First, Micah is really loving his rotation this month. He worked last week at our city's children's hospital and is doing some extra shifts there tomorrow and Friday. It is so hard to try to figure out what direction you want to go as a med student and while there have been definite "NO"s in some months (i.e. OB/GYN and General Surgery), he is finding joy in this month and it is fun to see your husband who is working so hard having fun while doing working all those hours.

Second, we wrapped up our discussion from our study of Beth Moore's Stepping Up Through the Psalms tonight in Bible Study and it was so good, I kind of felt the whole time like I was just sitting and soaking up the evening, hearing how God's Word has affected those in the study with me, reflecting on God's absolute goodness. Our God is so good, my friends, and He loves us so intimately and dearly and it is just overwhelming at times. I am so incredibly grateful for the way that He works and moves and how the Word that was written and recorded thousands of years ago still speaks to me and you today....it is living and active. So, so thankful for a community of women to study it with.

A Thousand Gifts

2011-11-14T22:22:00.001-06:00

I have not been very faithful with recording these the last couple of weeks. But, I am getting tantalizingly close to reaching my goal of recording a thousand gifts and am determined to spend time each day recording the many graces/gifts that I receive each day.

867. help from neighbors when I awoke to the van’s battery being dead

868. planning surprises

869. extra time together as a family on the trip to Grandpa King’s funeral

870. hearing testimony at the service of how his burden lifted when heaccepted Christ

871. beautiful fall colors as we drove through Missouri

872. carving pumpkins, making memories together

873. getting to the airport, making it to gates, anticipating a fun filledday

874. sweet visits and time with Dana, Lynette, and Kari

875. surprising Melissa

876. going on a photo shoot with Melissa

877. a birthday celebrated with my sisters

878. his mercies are new everymorning, great is His faithfulness

879. the surrounding presence of the Lord (Psalm 125:2)

880. meeting a friend for coffee, conversing in French

881. lunch outside on a November day

882. the stunning beauty of fall in Nashville

883. a relaxed morning with Rory and Melissa

884. safe flights home

885. amazingly sweet reunion with my boys

886. end of soccer season

887. Jesus Calling book

888. Some super sweet friends who organized a birthday dinner for mecomplete with cake and candles

889. Talking photography

890. Hysterical giggles of our kids playing together

891. A new week

892. Exceedingly kind and helpful sales people all day long

893. Getting milk for another store’s sale price at Walmart

894. A freezer full of meat

895. Not getting sick while at Melissa’s (I was having a seriously sorethroat, but managed not to get sick!)

896. German Chocolate Cake

897. Micah loving his rotation

Some Scrapbook Pages

2011-11-13T23:25:00.000-06:00

Digital Scrapbooking Day was on Saturday November 5, while I was at Melissa's house. I was so excited when I realized that I was going to be at her house because as I told Micah, "it is our holiday!" We didn't get as much scrapping done on that day as we wanted to, but we still managed to get a few pages done while I was there.

Long Day

2011-11-11T11:21:00.001-06:00

So, last Friday was a very long day. As in, a very long day. I woke up at 4:15 (i.e. the middle of the night) and realized that it was going to be about 19 hours before I actually made it to where I was headed--surprising Melissa.

A little background: I am always up for a trip to Nashville, but a few weeks ago I got it in my head that I wanted to surprise my sister for her birthday like she had surprised me four years ago. I thought about telling her about my upcoming visit so that we could both anticipate it, but ended up deciding that the fun of the surprise was going to be better. So, I spent the week before I left trying to get things done around the house and also to not slip up and say something to Melissa about seeing her that weekend.

It turned out that I had an early morning flight, but couldn't surprise Melissa until late that evening because they had tickets to see the musical Wicked at the performing arts center. My sweet friend Dana picked me up at the airport and together we went and had lunch with another friend. Then, Kari and her little girl collected me and we headed out to do what we call 'pilfering' (basically driving around, stopping wherever our fancy strikes, finding deals, etc.)

My pilfering buddies :)

This particular day, we had plans to figure out the best signage for the big surprise for Melissa that night and I have to say that I think we did pretty well. Later that night, I realized I should have taken pictures all along the way in order to document, but alas, that didn't happen. We had a great afternoon/evening which went by way too quickly. At one point, I started to feel like I was at an all night lock in and I got that jittery feeling from being up and moving for way too many hours....I am obviously not as young as I used to be. We had dinner with my younger sister that night and then Kari and I made the final preparations for surprising Melissa.

By the time we made it to TPAC, parked right next to Melissa and Brian, and made our way in to the lobby, I was starting to get pretty giddy and nervous and excited. We made sure to take a picture of me in place before all the people started coming out. I can't tell you how many slightly inappropriate comments I got about "the party's here" sign--it was Kari's idea and completely cracked me up! (the frame we got from Goodwill for 99 cents--isn't it awesome?) We took the picture with my phone and then posted it to Facebook before they were even out of the show. It was so much fun to wait and then see Melissa's face as she realized who was standing there. I think her exact words were "what are you doing here?"

So, yes, Friday was a long day, but it was so worth it!

I wanted to go to celebrate our birthdays together, but also to spend some time scrapping and talking photography/editing pictures and such and we got to do just that. We spent my birthday shopping and ended with going to see a movie with our other sister. And Wednesday, we loaded up in the car and she took me back to the airport.

It wasn't quite long enough, it never is. And there might have been a tear or two shed on the sidewalk in front of the departing flights sign.

But I have to say that when I made it back Wednesday night, I got the absolutely sweetest hugs from my boys...I think they might have missed me!

Choices

2011-11-10T10:09:00.001-06:00

I made a surprise trip to Nashville last Friday to visit with my sisters. I plan a more in depth blog post at some point, but if you want to see a video and a picture or two, you can head to my sister's blog.

Today, I have to make a choice to be responsible and actually work on reclaiming my house that was somehow destroyed while I was away. Maybe it was the earthquakes.....

And also, the choice to catch up on paperwork from the job that actually pays the bills. Working for my father in law is a huge blessing, allowing me the freedom of being gone and working from home. So, today, I think I had better make a good choice and get some work done.

I wanted to share a link with you though to a facebook event created by a friend of our family (I hope that the link will take you there). He explains his reasons on the page, but he has organized a day of prayer for Melissa tomorrow 11/11/11.

Would you consider joining together with us as we ask

the God who made heaven and earth to heal my sister?

Tuesday

2011-11-01T21:00:00.003-05:00

We spent the weekend out of town attending the visitation and funeral for Micah's grandfather who passed away early last week. While it is always sad to face death, we have been expecting this for some time and we are thankful that he did not suffer long and, most importantly, we know that he is now in the presence of the Father complete and fully healed. The weekend gave us some extra time together as a family traveling and then we were able to see and spend good time together with some extended family that we haven't seen for quite some time.

We made it home late Saturday night and Micah had to be at work bright and early Sunday morning at 6 AM. The boys and I went to church and basically crashed all afternoon before heading out to our church's Trunk or Treat event (that I took pictures of, but have yet to upload to the computer). The boys have been so funny this year about Halloween--way more excited than in year's past. They got up from their nap on Sunday and spent the next two hours getting their costumes on and perfected. (so, I guess when I say that we crashed, I should clarify that I crashed, they took a short nap while I couldn't drag myself out of bed.) They ended up being Iron Man and Darth Vader, for those who are curious.

Last night, we finally carved pumpkins and roasted pumpkin seeds. The boys were very adamant about how we should each guess how many seeds were in the pumpkin and then, 'when we get up tomorrow, you can tell us who wins, and we can get a prize'. (Micah counted this afternoon and swears there were 692, although that number seems really high to me!) And because the boys were SO excited about the actual trick or treating, we loaded them up and drove them over to their grandparents house so they could ring a door bell and say "trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat." I can't tell you how.many.times. I heard that yesterday.

And because I actually scrapped over the weekend, here are a couple of pages:

Comfort

2011-10-27T20:58:00.002-05:00

My sister went for a second opinion yesterday.

It never ceases to comfort me to go and read through the many comments left on her blog and on her facebook wall. If you have prayed for her or left her a comment, thank you. You may not realize how much it means to her family to see just how much she is loved and cared for.

I have also been listening to this song again.

"A Mighty Fortress"

(lyrics by Christy Nockels)

Our God is, a consuming fire,
A burning holy Flame, with glory and freedom
Our God is, the only righteous judge,
Ruling over us with kindness and wisdom

We will keep our eyes on You
We will keep our eyes on You

A mighty fortress is our God
A sacred refuge is Your Name
Your Kingdom is unshakable
With You forever we will reign

Our God is, jealous for His own
None could comprehend, His love and His mercy
Our God is exalted on His throne
High above the heavens
Forever He's worthy...

We will keep our eyes on You
We will keep our eyes on You

We will keep our eyes on You
We will keep our eyes on You
So we can set our hearts on You
Lord we will set our hearts on You!

Wednesday's Words

2011-10-26T10:21:00.000-05:00

Recently heard around our house:

"What did you learn in church?" -- the boys are quite accustomed to hearing 'what did you learn about in Sunday School, etc.' from us, but in recent weeks, we have been getting the third degree from both boys about what we learned in church. In fact, one Wednesday night as I was working with the boys on their memory verses and homework for that night's church, William wanted to know specifically what I had learned about in my Bible study the previous week. It is pretty sweet and I love the opportunities to share what I am learning as well.
One night last week while I was putting the boys to bed, they had asked me if they could call their daddy and tell him good night, so I went to get my phone. As I was heading back down the hallway, I heard Xavier say, "I love you, bro.....I just, I just care about you." Seriously melted my heart.
Our van has a 6 CD changer in it that is currently filled with a variety of albums (Casting Crowns, David Crowder Band, Christy Nockels, The Barlow Girls, Laura Story, and Third Day) and I get cracked up every time we get in the car, because they know which specific songs from each album that they want to hear. So, as soon as we get in the van, I start hearing "can we listen to 3, 2 (disc 3, song 2)? I want to hear 6, 10....etc." I am constantly amazed at their ability to hear music and almost instantly know the lyrics...they definitely take after their father in this respect. Their favorite this week is My Own Worst Enemy from the Casting Crowns new CD.
This one from Micah: "I am so ready for this month to be over with" To say that he is not enjoying his OB/GYN rotation just might be the understatement of the day.

And because there are words on my scrapbook pages, I am including a few of them that haven't made it to the blog:

Officially caught up, 2011, Weeks 40-42

2011-10-25T10:20:00.000-05:00

I think I might have a fever....I have found myself watching 3 of the 5 World Series games. Apart from the Olympics, I don't know when I have followed a sporting event, certainly not since we have been married. Back in high school and some in college, I was an avid basketball fan--there were many a lively viewings of the NBA finals back when the Bulls, Pistons, and Lakers were in their heydays (typically, all of the siblings in my family were passionately rooting for different teams). In baseball, we have all been pretty hardcore St. Louis Cardinals fans and so I guess that is what has been drawing me to the games. Tonight, it is giving me an opportunity to catch up all the way on Project 365. It feels good and at the same time is slightly alarming to me that we have completed week 42 of this year. Is it alarming to anyone else that there are only 10 weeks remaining to the year. Pretty hard to believe, if you ask me.

Anyway, here are weeks 40-42 of our year:

A thousand gifts

2011-10-24T20:14:00.003-05:00

This has been a day. It started with the van having a dead battery, thankful for some neighbors who helped me get the boys to school and jumped the van. Then, I got to have the joy of having some dental work done. For the most of my almost 34 years, I have had great reports from the dentist, only having the occasional partial filling, no real cavities. And the last time, I had to even have one of those small things done was probably 10 years ago. So, today when I had to have not one, not two, but three cavities filled....let's just say it was not my favorite thing. In fact, I felt so traumatized by the drilling and the whirring that I found myself trying to think of other things that I liked even less than the dental work and let me tell you, I could not think of many things. Fortunately, it is done and hopefully it will be another 10 years before I have to have any more work done.

835. Lunch at school with boys

836. Walking with my mom

837. Beautiful fall weather, actually needing sweatshirts at soccer practice

838. Shopping and lunch with my parents

839. Homemade hot fudge sauce

840. A hug from a sweet friend at Bible study

841. Walking with Traci

842. The way a huge flock of birds dart and move as one entity

843. Teaching on the Ten Commandments—I love the significance of it, how itreveals our sinful selves, teaches us about God

844. How every story in The Story points to Jesus

845. Psalm 125:2 As themountains surround Jerusalem, the Lords surrounds His people now and forever

846. The sound of rain

847. Little boys playing legos

848. How much the boys are enjoying “uncle Sam” and “uncle Clint”

849. Sleep

850. A perfect park day, catching up with sweet friends

851. Unexpected colors of autumn

852. Juice glasses

853. A gentleman who tips his hat to me at the park

854. Cool mornings and progress in running

855. Smell of freshly cut grass

856. Little boys in jeans

857. “yes, we trust God” yelled out in church

858. hearing sweet words of commendation for William’s ‘dependability’

859. that Micah got to go to chapel with me to hear those words

860. aquarium and park field trip with the boys

861. an urgency to get things done which turned out to be providentialtiming since the delivery to the container for Africa ended up being the nextmorning

862. a great report from boys’ teacher

863. a fun filled family Saturday

864. last minute dinner with friends

865. hearing people call out the promises of God during church on Sunday

866. fresh produce from our new CSA share

A ridiculous amount of pictures.

2011-10-23T17:16:00.000-05:00

I am just warning you that this post contains a ridiculous amount of pictures, but I couldn't narrow them down, and I decided that even if no one else cares, my mom will appreciate them.

Yesterday was a beautiful day and so we decided to try out a new (to us) nature area close to our zoo. I was pleasantly surprised to find a really nice nature center building and a large variety of trails. The boys loved it!


We were looking out over a pond and I kind of thought our reflections were kind of cool

Our trusty guide with the map


This picture is very important. I was trying to get a picture of Micah and Xavier playing which wasn't super successful, but as I was reviewing my pictures on my camera screen and walking to where they were, I heard Micah scream out "oh boy, big black snake!"


Exhibit A: Big Black Snake (unfortunately, I am not very adept at adjusting my settings in order to capture wildlife....this was the best one that I got as we all single file side stepped past this beast)

Honestly, the whole thing was kind of hilarious because neither Micah nor I are very brave when it comes to reptiles and as we kept walking, we were all a bit jumpy and Micah said something to the effect of "I am not sure what has me more freaked out...the fact that we saw the snake or that I stood for so long with my back to it!" He and Xavier had walked on down the trail while I was taking some pictures of the lake and William and in the picture above where he and Xavier are playing, they are literally right in front of the snake.

William picked up that stick at the beginning of our trek and held on to it the entire time. As you can see, he is very proud of it.

I love this 'action' shot--Xavier had spotted a spider and was trying to point it out to William


In the nature building, the boys dutifully listening to Micah read to them about a very old tree.

After the hiking, we headed to another part of the park that had playground equipment for a picnic and some playground fun. I am not sure which of the three boys had more fun!

I included this picture because Xavier (on the right) is making a face that OFTEN shows up on William's face and I don't know that I have noticed that he makes that face too.

Check out the look of surprise on Micah's face: he almost flipped them over backwards!

It was a super fun day. So thankful for it.

2011, Weeks 38 and 39

2011-10-22T22:04:00.000-05:00

Hope

2011-10-21T21:30:00.001-05:00

Don't fall out of your chairs. I am posting for the THIRD time this week. Yes, I know that this all but ensures that I will not be posting for the next two weeks, but let's just pretend that that won't happen. I have been thrown off my game all day today feeling like it is Saturday because the boys were out of school for parent teacher conferences and Micah was home all day (and actually didn't have to work last night). I went to the boys' conference, did some office work, laundry, and ended the day taking dinner to a friend who is going through chemotherapy. The exciting thing about this though is that tomorrow is actually Saturday and we have the day to ourselves without even a soccer game.

The real reason for this post is to share about something very very cool. For a long time, my favorite digital scrapbooking store has been the Lilypad. I feel extremely fortunate that I have been on the creative teams of several designers there and for the last several months, I have been on the creative team for the store. The designers and scrapbookers that hang out there are some really amazing people and last week when my sister forwarded me an email from a designer, I was reminded again of that fact. The designers got together and designed a collaboration kit called Hope in honor of Melissa. When she sent me the email with the preview of the kit, every time I would come back and look at it, it would bring tears to my eyes for a lot of different reasons--it is just beautiful, the spirit that it captures, because it is for my sister, and that these extremely talented women gave of their time and talents for someone they have never met, but who is very special to them.

Earlier this week, I knew I wanted to scrap with it and I knew that I wanted to use it to scrap a page about Melissa and her diagnosis and I sat down and actually did the journaling first and then built my page around it. I love that one of the designers (CD Muckosky) gives titles to her background papers that she designs, and the one that I used for this page is called A Downpour of Prayers. I couldn't recommend the kit more to all my scrapbooking friends, it is beautiful and it is for a great cause!

Here is my page:

Journaling:

This wasn't supposed to happen.

You were supposed to be safe.

I will never forget those days after my diagnosis as we waited for your genetic test results and Elizabeth's to come back in. I prayed so hard, begging God to spare you both, asking for you not to carry this burden. It was negative--big sigh of relief and thanks to God.

You were supposed to be safe.

That night in March as the boys and I drove through the night, I asked God, I prayed, I begged, "please don't let it be, don't let it be." During your surgery as the hours ticked by each of us getting increasingly nervous, still we prayed, still we asked, and we pleaded....don't let it be, please, God, don't let it be.

And yet, somehow, you weren't safe, and the one thing that I would never want to share with you, in an instant, we shared. I think that only one who has carried the burden herself can really know the grief of hearing that a sister is diagnosed with cancer, of knowing just a portion of what she will face, the demons that are sure to settle into the back of her mind.

It's different on this side of things and I don't like it. If I could, I would take it from you ten times over and yet, now my heart knows what it would be like for you to watch and I don't know that I could turn that hurt over to you either.

Safety, like so many things, is all about perspective, and you ARE safe. I confess to worrying that it may not be the 'safe' that I want, but I know that you are safe, you are held, you are choosing joy, you are shining as a bright light and I am proud of you, of the way you are fighting, and yet will always always mourn that we (as sisters) have shared more than sisters should ever have to share.

some promised pictures

2011-10-20T21:10:00.001-05:00

Back in the first week of September, my sister emailed me and said that she had at the last minute signed up for a photography class that she had been wanting to take for a couple of years and that she had told me about numerous times. Five minutes after she sent that email, she sent another one that said, 'wanna take it with me?' Regardless of the fact that I had not planned on taking another photography class (not that I thought I knew everything, just that I was busy, etc.), the thought of being able to do a class together with my sister (who has pretty much inspired any and all interest that I have had in digital scrapbooking and photography) proved to be a great catalyst for me to quickly push the purchase button myself. So, along with the craziness of life, I have been knee-deep in an attempt to learn more about my camera, to improve my photos, and to do the weekly photography assignments. I am super super super impressed with Karen Russell the photographer that teaches the course. She has spent an incredible amount of time putting the information together, making her website user friendly, making herself available to answer questions on the forum, it is just a really great class and I don't think I could say enough good things about it.

I am learning a lot, but at the same time, I feel like all my pictures are also worse at the same time. I think that when you are spending a significant amount of time learning about the rules of composition and depth of field and reading critiques of your photos as well as others, it just starts to get depressing for me as I look at the photos that I have taken and all I see are the mistakes that I have made. So, it has been this process for me (that I am STILL working through) to be able to look at a photo that I have taken and recognize all the technical errors, but still be okay with it because it is what it is....which is a record of our life.

With that being said, I was going through the photos from my parents' visit and of course am seeing bad photo after bad photo after bad photo, or maybe I should say I am just frustrated with the photography mistakes that I made that particular day. So, I present to you, my favorite 'bad' photos of the day:

The boys with my dad...notice their bundle of sticks that they REALLY wanted to take in for show and tell the next day. By the end of our jaunt, we had convinced them to look for the different types of nuts found there.

I love my mom.

I love that my boys love their grandpa.

I love this picture mostly because you can tell that BOTH boys are talking to my dad.
This was them pretty much then entire time we were there.

William and his grandma

and the token "creature" that we found while on our nature hike

Catching up

2011-10-19T18:21:00.000-05:00

Yes, we are still alive.

No, I haven't forsaken the blog.

Yes, I considered (still considering) giving it up all together.

No, I obviously didn't do that.

Yes, fall seems to have finally arrived in our little town.

No, there have not been any sightings of beautiful fall colors.

Yes, my boys are still cute.

No, they have NOT stopped moving.

Yes, my parents came for a visit.

No, I have not posted (much less processed) any photos from that trip.

Yes, we have had other guests since then.

No, we do not currently have any guests.

Yes, Micah is working nights on OB/GYN service this week.

No, there have not been any babies born on his watch this week.

I can't think of any more yes and no statements.

I have every intention of processing photos from my parents' visit and a multitude of other photos in the next couple of days and posting them. We have just been kind of crazy busy and I have discovered that when I get crazy busy, I get a wee bit crazy stressed and word on the street is that I am not so much fun when that happens (go figure!). Things are starting to settle in a bit, although tomorrow is a field trip (and yes, I am going) and then Friday are parent/teacher conferences and the boys are off of school, and did you know that the end of next week is practically the end of October, which means that it will be November and the holidays? And.....I am like FOUR weeks behind on my P365 which means I am in serious danger of being scared by the daunting task of catching up, so I really MUST find time for that soon.

Other than crazy life, we are good. Thanking the Lord for silly boys, sweet friendships, a husband that loves me, and continued assurance of His love and presence in our lives.

Back tomorrow with photos.....maybe.....

just a couple photos

2011-10-09T20:34:00.001-05:00

A friend of mine asked me to take some family photos next weekend and mentioned that there was this building in a town a bit north of us that was this awesome blue color, so yesterday I completely bribed the boys into going with me to test the lighting and the wall out. They were exceptionally jump-y, but I managed to get a few pictures of them that aren't photographic masterpieces, but pretty much sum the two of them up (and happen to be their favorite two pics too!):

One Thousand Gifts

2011-10-03T20:58:00.001-05:00

We are currently enjoying a visit from my parents for a few days. The boys are loving spending time with their grandparents and, honestly, I don't think I will ever tire of seeing my parents enjoy my kids. They got here late Saturday night and we all stayed up WAY past our bedtimes and are still playing catch up. We had a great day at church yesterday where both boys chose to stay in big church with us and I loved hearing their seriously exuberant singing. In the afternoon, we went on a little hike around the lake where the boys collected sticks to take to school for show and tell...in the end, we convinced them to settle for a few different types of nuts that we found along the way.

I have pictures, but of course, have been too busy having fun to upload and process.

821. An easy fix to the dishwasher

822. A laid back day

823. Joshua 21:45 “not one of the good promises which the Lord had made tothe house of Israel failed; all came to pass.”

824. Joshua 23:10b “for theLord your God is He who fights for you, just as He has promised you.”

825. A God who hears our cries, Holy Spirit who intercedes when we have nowords

826. Lunch with Micah at the hospital

827. Being able to lose myself in my photography class

828. Daily phone conversations with my sister

829. Text conversations with my other sister

830. The comfort of my family

831. Chocolate gravy

832. Hearing Xavier’s exuberant praise in church

833. Another rotation done for Micah

834. Visit from my parents and how much enjoyment my boys get from beingwith them

Wednesday's Words

2011-09-28T14:46:00.004-05:00

I am not going to lie, hearts have been pretty heavy around here.

I am pretty sure that it wasn't a coincidence this morning when I was working on my Bible Study, that my eyes caught these words underlined in Joshua 21:45

Not one of the good promises

which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed:

all came to pass.

I was headed to Joshua 23:10

...for the Lord your God is he who fights for you, just as He promised.

and just below that in 23:14

......and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls

that not one word of all the good words

which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed;

all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed.

I am thinking those are good words for this Wednesday.

A thousand gifts

2011-09-26T16:23:00.001-05:00

I have to confess that in all of last week's busyness, I was not faithful to get my gifts notebook out and record things daily....maybe that is why it was a difficult week for me? I do so much better when I am not focusing on how stressful/busy life is, but rather on what is good about the day. Just a reminder to myself that we never 'arrive' on this thankful journey, but have to keep running...each day a new opportunity to choose joy.

810. Micah home early

811. Evening walk with the boys

812. Sharing the burden

813. A surprise visit from friends to eat cake with us

814. Fall weather

815. Knowing God knows and He is here with us

816. A crazy busy weekend, but a fun one

817. Hearing the boys play with McGwire

818. Hysterical laughter of boys at Keith Coast event

819. Short but sweet visits (plural) from friends

820. Timely Bible Study—I lift my eyes up, my help comes from the Maker ofheaven and earth, the Lord, the One enthroned in heaven

Sunday

2011-09-25T16:50:00.001-05:00

I have discovered that I struggle do everyday, mundane tasks when I am worried/concerned particularly in recent months as I have been watching my sister walk the cancer journey. Especially in the weeks following her diagnosis, I remember feeling like going about my everyday life was somehow not honoring her--as in how could I do normal/everyday things when her whole world had been turned upside down. Of course, I learned by watching her (as I have for so many things in life) to just keep going, that not every conversation or blog post had to be about cancer, that cancer was a part of life, but it didn't mean that life didn't keep going on. On Friday, she got some disappointing news that we were not really expecting which means that she will have to start a new chemotherapy regimen on Tuesday and again I found myself not knowing how to just go on, how to start a blog post about our weekend which has been good, but feels bittersweet when my heart is just aching for my sister, brother in law, and niece and nephew. But, when I woke up this morning, this was her blog post and so again I find myself learning from her....

Our weekend:
We started Saturday out by meeting our college friends Kim and Jeremy and their kids (along with Jeremy's brother and his kids for a total of 5 adults and 9 kids) for breakfast at IHOP. I am pretty sure they might have been happy to see us go.

From there, we dashed off to a soccer game, which we barely won. I took some pictures and some video that I have yet to look at....which reminds me that I don't think I have blogged about soccer games yet, only practice. Suffice it to say, it needs its own post and after this season, I am pretty sure I am going to have approximately 15,000 photos of soccer games (give or take a few).The boys and I came home while Micah headed to the airport to pick up some very dear friends of ours who were in town for some meetings. We have been friends with them since before Micah and I got married and their kids have grown up so much in that time. The boys of course thought that McGwire was there sheerly for them to play with and he was a good sport and played a LOT with them.

And no, Xavier is not really looking at the camera, but at least he has a pleasant look on his face.

Their parents had a meeting, so Micah and I took the kids to our church where they were having a family night event with Keith Coast--a Christian magician, illusionist, comedian. It was fun and the three boys definitely had a great time. His big 'trick' at the end was putting himself completely inside a balloon and there are about 15 things wrong with this picture technically, but I love how all three boys were pretty much doing the same thing:

There was a lot of laughing going on, let me tell you. And since I am sure you are wondering how a man puts himself inside a balloon. This is what that looks like:

We stayed up way past our bedtime laughing and talking with friends and loving every minute of it since we never get to see them.

Today was Micah's dad's birthday, so we went to church with them and then out to lunch afterwards. The boys love to make cards for people and this was them 'explaining' their cards to their Pa Pa.

And finally, we had another soccer game this afternoon (to make up the one that got rained out last weekend). We won handily this time and the coach asked me to take a team photo for a thank you for the company that is sponsoring our team (i.e. paying for their jerseys).

Wait, did I say finally? Because we are getting ready to head to small group for our church in about 30 minutes. I guess we had just a few things going on this weekend!

Wednesday's Words

2011-09-21T22:13:00.004-05:00

It has been awhile since I did this, and yes, I know it has been awhile since I posted much of anything. We are just ignoring that. I seriously wish that I had just a little recorder for ALL of the funny things the boys say, they are just hilarious these days. For example:

We were driving by CVS the other day and the boys were both practicing their letters (they notice letters everywhere these days!) and one of them said "C.V.S.....last year we went to VVS, but this year we went to VBS, I wonder where we are going to go next year."
We were leaving soccer practice last week and the coach and his son were in a truck in front of us leaving the parking lot and they turned left while we were turning right and Xavier said, 'next time, can we follow Coach Dan, I really want to see where his house is.' I think I might have a stalker on my hands!
Tonight, they were cleaning up the dishes and were talking and William said something about "you are crazy, bro" to which Xavier replied, "I'm not crazy, I'm just curious."
When they are praying, you never quite know what they are going to say. Tonight at dinner, William was praying and said "thank you, God, that we are maybe going to have a good time at 7Wonders tonight" and before bed, Xavier in the middle of his prayer, "It is SO EXCITING, God, that you have answered our prayer and you have kept Grandpa King alive." He was very expressive in this..we weren't quite sure what he was going to say next. Great-Grandpa King has actually not been doing well since last December and it really does seem a miracle that he has lived as long as he has. We are thankful for his life and for the time with him that we didn't think we were going to have.

Life is never dull, let me tell you.

As for me, I have been reading a couple of parenting books. Sacred Parenting by Gary Thomas is so so good and has now been almost completely underlined and highlighted by me. I had read through about 2/3 of it before, but finished it this time and probably learned more from it. I look forward to revisiting it again and again. And makes me so thankful for my own parents and for their parents and for the Godly heritage that I am extraordinarily blessed to have.

Right now, I am reading 5 Conversations You Must Have With Your Son by Vicki Courtney and it is good too. It is definitely easier reading than Sacred Parenting, but still really good and I feel like giving me good reminders and perspectives on things to look forward discuss in the future with my boys, but also what I need to do now to set the groundwork.

Interestingly enough, in my women's study tonight (Stepping Up through the Psalms of Ascent by Beth Moore), she talked about how music often communicates and helps us through moments when our hearts are aching and we don't have words for what we want to say. I have recently discovered the David Crowder Band (just as they are wrapping up their last album), but this song Shadows from their Church Music CD has been on repeat play more than once in the last few weeks. I love the lyrics:

Life is full of light and shadow
O the joy and O the sorrow
O the sorrow

And yet will He bring
Dark to light
And yet will He bring
Day from night

When shadows fall on us
We will not fear
We will remember

When darkness falls on us
We will not fear
We will remember

When all seems lost
When we're thrown and we're tossed
We remember the cost
We rest in Him
Shadow of the cross

I just love the reminders from my own life has God has brought light from dark and how when shadows fall on us, we will remember. We will remember His goodness, we will remember His faithfulness, His provision, who He is, He is healer, redeemer, our shield, and we can trust Him, we choose to trust Him. He is sufficient and He sees us when we are in those 'shadow' moments of life. So thankful to call Him Father.

A Thousand Gifts

2011-09-19T22:31:00.002-05:00

I am discovering that there is always much to be thankful for, and today is one of those days when I am reminded to count every single blessing and every single day because we aren't promised tomorrow. Today marks four years since I went to the hospital with cancer still in my body and emerged from surgery a few hours later with zero cancer. Any way you look at it, it was a good day. A good day to celebrate. A good day to be thankful.

783. That Micah is different (in a good way...)

784. Sacred Parenting book

785. A godly model for parenting in my own parents

786. Start of a new study

787. Coffee with sweet friends

788. Worship CDs on sale

789. Micah being home for dinner and soccer practice (and hearing Xavierthank God for this)

790. Heidi continuing treatment

791. An 18

792. Overhearing a very passionate discussion of what the characters on StarWars sound like: ‘nuh, nuh’ or‘ner-ner’

793. Shadows and Light—David Crowder Band

794. Photography class

795. How God redeems

796. My help comes from the Maker of Heaven and Earth Ps 121:1

797. A friend who knows my fears and lets me voice them

798. A top to bottom clean house

799. A laid back week

800. Aching muscles

801. Sweet words from the boys’ teacher

802. Hearing them ‘sing’ their catechisms from songs learned in theclassroom

803. An abundance of fall clothes for the boys-God always provides

804. Knowing He is there, that He knows our fears and hurts

805. Remembering His goodness—looking back through my gifts journal remindsme over and over of this goodness

806. Accomplishing some work on flower bed

807. Tears and prayer with Micah

808. Do not fear, Abram, I am your shield Gen 15:1

809. 4 years cancer free

2011, weeks 36 and 37

2011-09-17T15:56:00.001-05:00

Happy End of the Week

2011-09-09T11:29:00.001-05:00

I was SO looking forward to this weekend until I got a text from Micah this morning letting me know that he was mistaken and he has to work this weekend while we thought that it was next weekend that he had to work. Not necessarily a big deal, just that we happen to have a crazy busy weekend this week. The boys first soccer game, a friend's son playing in a football game in our town, two 1-year old birthday parties, church and first small group of the fall. I was looking forward to at least doing all of that with Micah, but looks like the boys and I are going to be hanging out together. Oh, and they have a little ice cream party at school this afternoon that I get to help with--so should be a fun day.

I can't really think of anything exciting going on other than our day to day stuff. I did make a trip to Lifeway Christian Store yesterday to pick up some more workbooks for our Wednesday night Bible Study group. We are doing Beth Moore's Stepping Up Through the Psalms and I am really looking forward to diving into it. I should know better than to go to a bookstore without the boys to keep me on task, I think I spent almost an hour there and walked out with my workbooks, 3 CDs and this book (which was a complete impulse buy, but since I just finished up Sacred Parenting, I needed a new parenting boys book...or that is how I justified it). And my CDs were all on sale and I am loving them.

I took this picture of William a few weeks ago. Xavier was not cooperating and was literally running away from me instead of letting me take his picture. I am just always in love with their sweet blue eyes.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Teal Toes

2011-09-07T22:17:00.003-05:00

Since I am a breast cancer survivor, I know full well that October is breast cancer awareness month. It seems like everywhere you look, it is pink pink pink. And while I am all about promoting awareness of a very serious disease, to be honest, October is not my favorite month of the year, it just brings a LOT of memories and realities to the surface all. month. long.

What you may not be aware of is that September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness month and this year, ovarian cancer became a subject way more important in my life as I have watched my sister battle courageously against this horrible disease. She finished up her last scheduled treatment this past Thursday and we are trusting and praying and waiting to hear the results of her CT scan on the 22nd.

Over the weekend, she called and told me that there was a website called Teal Toes that is encouraging everyone to paint their toes teal in an effort to raise awareness about ovarian cancer. Like 'pink' is the official color of breast cancer, teal is the official color of ovarian cancer. You should definitely check out their site, there is a ton of great information about ovarian cancer, the symptoms, why it is so often misdiagnosed and how important early detection is.

Melissa wrote a great post about it which you can find here and even hosted a giveaway (which is sadly closed now, so sorry about missing out on that), but I loved reading all the comments and the number of people who were planning to paint their toes teal for the month of September. It is a great way to at the very least begin to raise awareness about this disease.

I am committing to wearing my teal toes proudly throughout the month of September. As an added bonus of it not being a normal color that I wear, I tend to notice it a little bit more which also serves as a reminder to me to say a prayer for my sister and others who are facing this diagnosis.

You can read more about ovarian cancer at the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance.

2011, Week 35

2011-09-07T09:16:00.000-05:00

I managed to scrap a few pages over the weekend in addition to my P365 page, so I thought I would share them as well.

Nature Hike

2011-09-06T09:13:00.000-05:00

Last fall, I had the idea that I wanted to find a nature trail where I could take the boys to 'hike' occasionally. I have so many good memories from when I was a kid that we would go and walk on trails and I thought that the boys were big enough that they could enjoy it as well. I asked around and found out about one not far from here, but never managed to make it out there. When I knew that Micah was going to be home on Monday and the fact that the weather has decided to be absolutely beautiful this week, I suggested that we head up there for a little bit of a hike. After we went on some trails on our little vacation this summer, I knew that the boys would be excited and as soon as I mentioned it, they were ready to go!

Taking pictures in bright sun or with lots of trees giving crazy shadows proved to be rather tricky, but we had the best time and I am so glad that we got to do it and will definitely be heading back again.

heading out

The boys requested that this be my picture of the day

check out our little friend that we found along the way

sweet William

X-man


We saw some friends there and so we managed to get a family picture from the day!

It was fairly cool out when we arrived, but it definitely warmed up by the time that we finished, thus the carrying of the sweatshirts for the boys. It also kind of made me sad because there were already so many dead leaves on the ground. It has just been so hot and dry this year that I am doubtful that we will have a very pretty autumn. The snake was not in a hurry at all and the adults very 'bravely' allowed the boys to watch as it meandered across the path. After we had gotten past it, Xavier said, "I do NOT like snakes"....me either, buddy!! They loved it and it is always good to get out and just be outside together.

A Thousand Gifts, September 5

2011-09-05T20:54:00.001-05:00

I just want to go on record as saying that I am a fan of the three day weekend. Especially when Micah gets to be off for all three days. Yes, you read that right, Micah was home for three whole days, three and a half, if you count the fact that he got done at like 1 pm on Friday afternoon (of course, he went in around 4ish, so he still worked quite a bit). We have played games, we had family over, we had friends over, we ran errands, we cleaned, we cooked, we relaxed and watched TV, we even went on a hike at a nearby state park this morning. It was so nice and I think that neither Micah nor I am ready to go back to the real world tomorrow, but I am going to choose to just be so thankful for the good weekend that we had.

Micah even got to go with me to pick up the boys on Friday from school. It was so cute, because he hid in the back of the van and completely surprised the boys who squealed/screamed very loudly when they realized he was there. I can't remember if I mentioned that he is on a surgery rotation this month, but that is what he is doing and the best news so far with this rotation is that he only has to work one weekend. I love it when he has the weekend off...have I mentioned that once or twice? The boys love having their daddy around and they spent hours this weekend playing legos together.

758. Encouraging emails

759. Lunch with boys at school

760. Repeated confirmations that the boys have a great teacher

761. A cooler day for roasting

762. A good ‘nothing to see here’ kind of appointment with my surgeon

763. Boys snuggling in my lap every morning

764. Normal blood levels

765. The way Xavier’s thoughts always go to heaven when we see the sunpeeking behind the clouds

766. Beautiful Oklahoma morning sky

767. Micah making it to ParentsNight

768. Teachers—such an important job

769. Teachers—seriously could list it 15x in a row…their sweet spirits,their energy, their love for children

770. That the boys are able to attend a Christian school

771. Seeing the sweet smile of a friend and visiting

772. Picking up the boys together with Micah

773. Blog posts that convict and point me to the Father

774. Cycle #6 completed for Melissa

775. Family game night

776. A three day weekend

777. Cooler weather

778. Sleeping in

779. Having friends over

780. Going on a hike

781. A leisurely day

782. A husband who helps me so much!

Thursday's Randomness

2011-09-01T10:31:00.000-05:00

Just a little update about Xavier: I emailed his teacher that night and she said that she talked to him after I left and she could tell that he had been upset, but that after a few minutes, she said "I don't think your mommy would want you to be sad, why don't you run and play and maybe that will get your mind off of it." and off he went and she never saw another tear. That is pretty much what I figured would happen, but you never know...

Big day for my sister Melissa today. It is her last scheduled chemo treatment. I didn't realize I was so emotional about it until I sat down to write that. She has had a rough time, but through it all has amazed me with her humor and positive outlook and constant choosing to see the good.

I had two doctors appointments this week myself and am thrilled to say that they were good, no problems, no abnormalities, no changes. Exactly the kind of appointments that I like to have. Even my bloodwork that had come back elevated 3 months ago was back to normal. We are still monitoring it monthly, but you know, I will take 'normal' every chance I get. I will say that after having an appointment with my surgeon on Tuesday and bloodwork and the oncologist yesterday, last night I was just emotionally wiped out and feel like I always completely underestimate how much emotional energy those appointments take out of me.

Since we talked about prayer earlier this week, I would love for you guys to remember several women that I know who are dealing with very serious cancer issues right now. Some of them are friends from real life, some are online people I have gotten to know, and some from my Young Survival Coalition group...all of them are dear to my heart and I am asking God for miracles in their lives.

I love this pic from soccer the other night, they are going to start doing a cheer at the end of each practice. Also, I am loving the sunflare-ish type of lighting that I am getting during soccer practice!