Buddies

"Hey, is DAWG sleeping?"


"I'll just wake him up with a pah-pah" (pat pat...a.k.a smack)


"DAWG's eyes!"


"Mmm-muh! Glad you still love me, Pogo!"


I've been taking a lot of pictures of Julia the last few days. Love to see her tiny little arms and legs as she waddles around the house in her warm weather clothes. And what a warm day it was today! The boys and Matt and I played outside a little bit. It was pretty funny to watch them in the woods playing army. Matt would give them a mission, such as sneaking up on the enemy and throwing grenades on the their hideout. Gray would be throwing his grenades at Joshua, they would separate and Joshua would run ahead and begin his mission without Gray, they'd call out many times to Matt to confirm what they were supposed to be doing, and when it was time to make camp, Gray came to go night night with Mommy and Daddy. Sweet little soldiers! At least Gray isn't afraid anymore. I think it was in the fall that we were playing army and Gray just froze in the middle of the woods and cried, refusing to go a step further.

Saturday Night Fever

Well it's Saturday night and here I am, still in my pink sweatpants and "I'm off duty" tshirt...and that's not because my shirt really gives me a special vacation or anything--turns out that Julia and Gray both came down with fevers Friday night so our fun concert plans were cancelled. We even had to miss a fun family birthday party tonight. But we haven't had as much as a sniffle since the flu incident in January. That's over a month of wellness in the winter! We were more than due for another round of sickness, so I can't complain.

So, as is obvious by the fact that I haven't changed clothes in 2 days, not a lot of excitement around here this weekend. We have almost finished our 4th Narnia book and this afternoon Gray and I resurrected the "Cars" movie (which we used to watch on a weekly basis long ago)--his choice of "special movie time" to ease the pain of not getting to go to the party. We enjoyed a little bit of outside time today and took a trip into the woods to check out and work on the "fort" the boys have been building with Matt. One of my favorite parts of today--and every year, really--was discovering flowers popping up here and there in our yard. I have an array of bulbs along the back fence, which are usually the first to bloom, but I also found that in the midst of some dead stalks of flowers I planted in the fall, some new shoots are coming up. Love, love, love the signs of spring...or at least the signs of spring that don't bite, slither, or crawl. Looking forward to a warm sunny day tomorrow and hopefully it will be the start of a healthy week!

Getting some culture

Tonight, Matt and I are going to an album release concert/party for Jessica Long. Jessica's parents are good friends of Matt's parents and her mother is a gym client. Jessica and her brother also happen to be childhood friends of my cousins from when they lived in Durham so I grew up hearing lots about "the Longs", though I don't think I've ever met Jessica.

Matt's parents are keeping the kids, though before that was decided on I had thought they might be going as well. Cindy told me that Jessica would probably rather have the young crowd there (though she's having us get a cd for her) and she didn't think she was part of her target audience:) Well, as I look at myself in the mirror this morning, in my wrinkled, stained "I'm off duty, go ask dad" tshirt and my high-water bright pink sweat pants, I'm not so sure I fit the desirable demographic either!

As I try to figure out what in the world you wear to this type of event (I think it's been 8 years since I've been to a concert!), I'm reminded of my younger years when I *think* I used to be more fashion conscious. I do remember writing down every outfit I wore to school so as not to have an embarrassing repeat, though the idea that I did that is what's embarrassing now! Somewhere between college days and kids I think I lost a little bit of touch with reality and could have really been called up for "What Not to Wear". Now I don't think I'm a horrible dresser and I don't really think it's that important anyway, but I don't want to be completely out of place tonight.

I looked up a little background on Jessica to get an idea of what her music would be like. It sounds like she's very into classic rock and gave the image of a girl trying to make it in the guy's rock music world. So guess my ruffled cardigan should probably not make the scene tonight.

Oh well, regardless of what I figure out to wear tonight, I'm looking forward to getting out with Matt and doing something different! Maybe I'll just depend on Matt's fashion sense to carry us both:)

God is the Gospel

I have not been reading books much lately at all, but for some reason (a.k.a. Pogo whining in the garage because he's scared of the wind) I woke up at 5:45 and couldn't sleep so I wandered to the bookshelf and picked up the book God is the Gospel by John Piper. So far what I've gotten out of it is that the point of the gospel is that we can enjoy God. Yes, our sins are forgiven because of what Jesus did and that's necessary and important, but Piper is saying (I think) that what's more important than who we become is the gift of getting to know God. I am not a very deep thinker, but I'm trying to sort this all out.

I think I wrote before that Matt's reading the Narnia books to the boys (mostly Joshua) and they have read three of them so far. I catch bits and pieces when I can and something from one of them the other day (I think the Dawn Treador) was this scene: Aslan tells Lucy and Edmond that they won't ever come back to Narnia and they are heartbroken. They tell him that their sadness isn't about the place--it's about HIM. They are so completely enamored with being with Aslan that to think of not being with him breaks their hearts. I think that is what Piper is getting at. We get to know God "in the face of Jesus", as he says, because of the gospel and will one day be with him because of the gospel and that is the whole point.

I'm interested to see what else Piper has to say on this subject since I'm only partway into Chapter 2, but so far just thinking here and there this morning about enjoying God being the ultimate point of all he does and all of his blessings is definitely thought-provoking. One thing I've thought about is that when the boys ask about heaven, what do I focus on? All the cool stuff we get, like new bodies, no sickness or sadness-- not that we get to be enamored by the presence of God, like Lucy and Edmond. I think this is because enjoying God is one of those intangible things that you can't show anyone proof of, but you just know it and feel it. Those "God moments" are amazing to experience, but I think for most people, they don't hang around forever and even become elusive at different times in life so that you grow to forget even what it feels like.

But sometimes you do get that experience where something happens that only God can do or when he shows you some profound truth about himself or when you just feel like he's loving you or when you just know he's there with you...and maybe that's what it will be like to live with him in heaven, which would pale in comparison to any other blessings we might get there. On the back of this book it says that God's love is "his commitment to do everything necessary (most painfully the death of his only Son) to enthrall us with what is most deeply and durably satisfying--namely, himself.

Death and Taxes

How does that saying go? That those are the only two things that are certain? Well we almost experienced both of them in one night! Okay, maybe that's stretching it a bit, but boy have we had a time with taxes this year!

Matt started his company last year, so things have been a bit more complicated. Normally Matt does them alone, but he asked me to help this year since I do most of the business finances. I think I mentioned in another post that it took us forever Saturday night to figure out the right program and we didn't get it all done that night. So Monday night we thought we'd finish up. We were cruising right along and finding that we'd get back a lot more money than we'd even hoped, so things were good. It was about 8:15 and it looked like we were finished. Yes! But I kept having this feeling that something wasn't right and after we paid H&R Block for their program and were just about to review all our work and file it, Matt stopped and said he wasn't sure it was right either.

One of our gym clients works at an accounting firm and had told Matt that there was a particular form he needed to submit with his taxes because of the corporation. We just weren't sure the program we had used included that (even though the customer service rep said it was fine), so I called again. Again I got a very incompetent rep who seemed to not know anything about anything except how much each of the programs cost. She put me on hold and once again assured me that the version we used was fine. But I wasn't buying it and when we further researched on our own, we realized we were definitely missing something. And the program we needed to use wasn't even offered for mac, so we were stuck with getting a refund and starting ALL OVER!

Very frustrating, but hopefully this story will still have a happy ending. Looks like we'll be able to access the info we filled out so that we can hopefully just copy it into the correct program and it will be a snap. Needless to say, even though I don't know a whole lot about it, the "fair tax" or "flat tax" that eliminates all this confusing income tax filing is sounding better and better.

"I'm coming in to go poop, Mommy. Poop."

Isn't that what motherhood is all about? Well at least bodily functions have been a lot of what my life has been like lately! There's Julia, who is waking up soaked through her pjs every morning, I guess because of all the milk she's drinking (we're officially done nursing as of Saturday, if I haven't mentioned). There's Gray who is still soaking his bed almost every night (though now he sleeps on only a towel so he can change it himself and there isn't quite as much laundry to wash).

And then there's Pogo. I don't think I mentioned that a few weeks ago he apparently bit a biker when he escaped our yard. We assume that he was trying to play with the biker, since he is usually super friendly with strangers, but maybe the biker was scared and kicked at him or something. Anyway, we're having to keep him inside for 10 days unless he's on a leash and of course we can't keep him in with us because of Joshua's allergies, so he's mostly in the garage and I'm taking him out to go potty regularly, He usually won't do this on the leash, but I have to make sure he's not going to run away, so I am following him to wherever he decides to potty and watching to be sure he has done #1 and #2. Never had to do this before, though I think that's what people with inside dogs often do, so it's a little bit of a change to be so acquainted with Pogo's business.

And then there's the boys' obsession with poopy talk. If it is a bodily function word or sounds like or rhymes like one of those words, they can work it into any conversation and/or use it to give someone a nickname. Of course they find it hilarious no matter how ridiculous or repetitive it gets.

And then there's just the business of changing Julia's diapers and changing diapers of the nursery kids at church. And cloth diapers always put you extra in touch with bodily functions. I was dumping out Julia's diaper in the toilet yesterday before putting it in the diaper laundry bag. I went downstairs and a few minutes later realized that there was something between my toes. Upon further examination, it was...you guessed it...poop!

So what is it about becoming a mother that makes you able to deal with all this nastiness without hardly wrinkling your nose? I'm guessing it's a combination of necessity and love. I know one of these days, poop won't be a big topic on conversation in our house, but for now, guess it is just part of life!

By the way, I had another "aha" moment last night that corresponds to what I wrote about Gray's spaciness the other night. Joshua has this one pair of pjs that he LOVES. Last week, I think he wore them at least 4 or 5 days and nights. Yesterday he had worn them at night and then all day, much of which was spent playing outside in the sand and woods, and then after bath, he put them on again. Of course we made him change to something clean and after he left the room, I was in disbelief and marveled to Matt, "I have never seen someone love pjs so much!" Matt gave me a funny look and said, "Well he is his mother's son." Oh...right. I often wear the same outfit a few days and nights in a row and yes, I generally live in pjs. Duh. Isn't it funny how we can so easily see things about everyone else but overlook ourselves?

Good day sunshine...

...at least I think that's how the song goes. We spent almost the whole weekend outside and it was wonderful! We threw the frisbee, took walks in the woods, chased down Pogo a few times, sat on the porch and read, played with the football, etc etc. And I took no pictures so sorry for that. I seem to keep posting either lots of words and no pictures or many pictures and no words. I'll get it together one of these days!

Yesterday morning we left Julia with Matt's mom and the rest of us spent the morning at the Duke football stadium doing a team workout with the gym crew. The weather was perfect and team workouts are always more fun in my opinion, so it was a good time for all. I think I'm on my third week "back" (as in back to CrossFit) though I've been going very easy except Saturdays. I've been sore a good bit and every time I do something difficult I think of how I don't like to exercise one bit, but when it's over, I'm thankful Matt has encouraged me to be healthy and I do feel a lot better.

And speaking of fun times, Matt and I tackled the taxes last night. He started the gym corporation last year, so it was the first time doing taxes for that and we weren't very prepared. I think it took us almost an hour and a phone call to H & R block just to figure out which program to use! Finally we got going and I realized my record keeping could have made the process so much easier (lesson for this year!). At 11, we quit for the night and will have to take it up again tomorrow. So far looks like we'll get some money back, but I don't have enough experience to know if the stuff we haven't filled out yet could affect that. While I looked for papers for Matt, I did a lot of cleaning out and organizing, which is always a plus.

Nothing too much on the agenda for this week. Still holding my breath and waiting for more sickness. So thankful that we've been healthy these last few weeks. Hope the same for all of you and have a good week!

A few random pictures

Three little loves

Every now and then I like to give a little update on the kiddos and let you know what is new with them. I'll start with Gray. Matt and I were talking about him not "getting" the treasure hunt and he asked me if I thought there was a difference between his understanding and Joshua's because of age or that Joshua's more intuitive. I said definitely not age because Joshua understood what we were doing when we started this tradition 2 years ago. Gray is just definitely lacking in the common sense department! He just doesn't make a lot of connections about things that I would have never had to explain to Joshua. Here's a recent example: Yesterday, someone from the gym gave Matt a big bag of play doh and I was consolidating some of the colors so we could get rid of a bunch of the containers. Julia was playing with the containers and lids and there were all over the floor and eventually I had the boys clean them up. I told them to go put them in the red recycle box in the laundry room and they seemed to be doing that. Gray was supposed to get the containers and Joshua the tops, thought at one point Gray shouted that Joshua missed a green lid. Hours later, I went in the laundry room to find the play doh lids in the red recycle box and in the laundry basket on top of the dryer were the containers, with the tell-tale green lid mixed in:) Did Gray notice that "his" basket was neither red nor a recycle bin? I don't know. Did he think, "Isn't it strange that Mommy wants to wash these plastic containers?" I don't know. Did he see that Joshua was putting his stuff in a different basket? I don't know. But this is very typical Gray these days. I was thinking this morning that I don't know where he gets it from. Matt and I both come from smart families and I think I always assumed my kids would be smart. (And I think Gray is too, but doesn't show it as well!) Then I remembered a little nickname I was given at some point in my younger years. My dad called me L.I.S., which stood for Lost In Space. Ding, ding, ding. I think we have a source for Gray's fogginess! Oh well. I turned out okay anyway, right?

On to Julia. Lately, life for Julia has been a lot about learning to talk. She is starting to try to say so many things, most of which are hard to understand without context and I'm finding that although words in theory make communication easier, some things are getting more complicated. She LOVES to say 'no' now, which sometimes means yes. Her favorite things all sound alike so I often have no idea what she's asking for. If she says, "mi" or "ni" or "mi- mi" or "ni ni" (sort of a short i sound on all of these, sort of not) it could mean any of the following:
milk
night night
Mama
more
banana
or no.

We are down to one feeding, so probably within the week she'll be weaned. It was hard at first, when we were going down from 6 feedings, but at the end, it's been going really well and she'll now go down for naps or bed without even seeming to expect me to nurse her. She loves being outside! The other day I let her roam around in the fence and she was fascinated by everything. Sometimes I don't want to take her out because I feel like there's nothing for her to do, but I forget how interesting it is for babies to just be out there, toys or not. When it was just me and Joshua and he was Julia's age, I used to take him to the parks in Dupont all the time, but so much of Julia's experience is very different from his and I forget how things used to be.

Now Joshua. Things have been a little bit of a struggle with him lately. As a parent, I think you find that certain issues come up in waves. Or maybe you just unintentionally focus on some things at certain times and overlook them in others. Anyway, what has come to light recently is Joshua's need to tell everyone what to do and have his way no matter what it takes. If someone refuses his way, he either goes into grumpy mode and won't play with him or he just does his best to make it happen anyway, either through persuasion or force! He's always been this way, but lately it seems more obvious than ever. It is absolutely painful for him to go with anyone else's ideas, share his stuff, etc. Gray often goes along with him, so some days I don't notice it, but sometimes Gray has had enough and those are the days I'm pulling my hair out! I talk to him about how being the first born child makes him more likely to have those leadership qualities and not want to be a follower and that those things can be great in the right situation, but he can't always have the "me first" and "my way" mentality. Maybe something is slowly sinking in, but it's not evident yet. And I know it's tough for him. He's fighting a big part of his nature and not winning very often so he's getting lots of correction. Some days I feel like I'm grasping at straws to try to find something good to praise him about just to counteract all the fussing! Anyway, I hate to say it, but when I think of what has characterized Joshua lately, that's all I've got! One on one, though, he is great. He is fun to talk to and play with. He is helpful and loving. But add a peer in the mix and he's a different child. Any words of advice are welcome.

Valentine pictures

Wuv, Twoo Wuv

If you've never seen The Princess Bride, go see it and you'll get my reference to it in the title!

So it's Valentine's Day (duh) and we're having a pretty good day here. While I'm thankful that I do have a love in the romantic sense, there's something about having kids that makes me think mostly of a different kind of love on this holiday--the kind of love between family and friends. Can't imagine life without it! I am very thankful to experience lots of love in my family and Matt's family!! The kids and I celebrated that love a little bit this morning. I gave Julia a little ball, which she likes a lot, and the boys got to go on their treasure hunt.

Gray did not "get" the treasure hunt the first year we did it, nor was he grasping it all last year. This year he was still a little confused. I gave him his first clue and told him to look for the next little piece of paper. He said angrily, "No! It's not supposed to be a piece of paper!" I tried to explain that it would eventually lead to his treasure, but he still wasn't really tracking. His clue was, "Julia is ready for her milk and lunch!!" and he was supposed to go to her seat and find the next clue. It took much convincing to get him to go over there and a lot of hints before he found the clue. Then he gave me a look and said grumpily, "It didn't even have any milk." There were 10 clues and he started to catch on after a few more. Joshua LOVED every minute! Their treasure at the end was a box of sweethearts and for Gray, the Joker to go with their Batcave, and for Joshua, the Riddler. Lots of fun pretend play followed, which was great since I'm getting ready for our showing this afternoon!

One more thought for the day. I keep hearing and thinking about the word 'love' and how it says in the Bible that God is love. Something I keep coming back to is that even though a lot of people could care less about God, anyone who has known real love must have seen a little bit of who he is, kind of like how seeing nature shows us how God is so powerful and beautiful. God IS love. It's a hard concept, because we think of love as a feeling, and I still haven't quite figured out all that it means, but today I am very thankful for all of the kinds of love I get to experience!

**I have pictures from today but they aren't downloading, so I'll post those when I can.**

Looking on the positive...

Okay. I wrote the other post shortly after our showing and since then I've been thinking that I should not complain so much! So here are a few positives about today:

-As I felt before the showing, it's probably a good sign that the market is picking up for spring since we had 2 showings scheduled within a few days.

-We got some good outside time! It's windy, but it sure is a pretty day.

-Despite missing her nap, Julia's been hanging in there pretty well.

-We did get a lot of notice this time.

-Matt and I got some good decluttering done last night that should help in future showings.

-Maybe the agent will hear of a family that would be a good fit for our house and now that she's seen it, she'll be able to judge that better.

-Our house is clean. That's always nice. Plus there will be less to do Monday.

Okay, I feel better now! Now to enjoy the rest of the weekend with my parents....

Waste. of. time.

We just finished our showing and boy was that frustrating. You probably know that our house has a very unique setup upstairs and would really only be suited to families with kids. We have this written on our website, we have the website address on the listing, and we also stated this fact on the listing.

The showing was supposed to take place at 1:45 (awkward time if you have little kids), so I knew we'd have to keep Julia up awhile, but was hoping to still put her down for a late nap. We cleaned last night and this morning and then went to the park after lunch so the house would stay clean. My plan was for everyone to hang out on the porch when we got home and until the showing was over. But then at 1:45 we found out they were running late. So we stayed outside and waited and waited. They showed up finally at 2:45 and stayed about 10 minutes. Maybe. It was a young couple and the parents of one of them. After they ran through the house, they said they had more houses to see and they had no kids but would all 4 be living in the house so they'd have to remodel the upstairs for it to work for them. And then they left.

So frustrating to again put all that energy into this and have someone come that, had they looked at the website or read the information on the listing, should have known that our house wasn't for them. I know not everyone will like our house or be ready to buy it even if they do, but please just don't even come if you can clearly see that this is not a good fit.

We'll see if Monday turns out to be the same. Can't say I'm feeling hopeful after our last two flops!

Two Showings!

Hey. Quick update. Last night we had calls about showings. One will be this afternoon and one late Monday afternoon. Excited to see things pick up, even if these guys aren't the buyers.

My Funny Valentines

Just got out the camera the other day and got a few funny faces from the boys. And then I thought it was pretty funny watching Julia tirelessly attempt to carry two big balls in her little tiny arms. This was one of her particularly Valentine-looking outfits (Thanks, Lou!) that she wore to church that day. It hasn't gotten old dressing her up yet!

Headband!!

I'm not usually a headband fan on babies...at least not my baby, probably because she has very little hair so they just look funny to me...but I had to try this yellow one on her because it went so well with her shirt. I thought it was so cute, but I guess even one year olds have opinions on style, because this accessory lasted about 10 minutes.

My love

This was the in the early days of our dating relationship...maybe the weekend that we "officially" started dating??


Think this was taken the day after Matt and I got engaged.

So in honor of Valentine's Day, thought I'd share the story of my Valentine, though most of you probably already know. Bear with any sappiness that may follow and you may want to grab a snack because I have a feeling this will be a long one...

My sophomore year in college, I became involved with a Campus Crusade Bible study. It was a life changing experience, as my eyes were opened for the first time to what it really meant to be a Christian. My leader encouraged me to go on a "Summer Project" with Crusade, but I was not ready to spend a summer away from home, since I looked forward to catching up with family and friends in Fort Mill during those months. But as I looked at what to do in the summer after my junior year, I couldn't deny that God was showing me to go on a summer project so after a lot of hesitation, I did apply for one in Tennessee. As I thought about what the summer would be like and some of the desires I'd been praying about that year, I just had this feeling that I'd meet "the one" in TN. Even some of my friends said the same thing to me. I hadn't really dated anyone since realizing that I did not want to get involved with guys who didn't have the same faith as I did and I felt like I really didn't want to get involved with anyone unless it was the one guy I would marry.

So this was the mindset I had going into that summer, yet when I got there and met the other students, I didn't have an attraction to any of them and thought my premonition must have been wrong. Regardless, it was such a great summer from the start and I grew so much in faith and gained some really great friendships. And there was this one guy. I remember the first time I saw him...tall, dark, and handsome Matt, but ON STAFF Matt. Yeah, it was only a year long internship he was doing and it would be over at the end of the summer, but I still thought it was probably not allowed for staff and students to date. Besides, he was so much more spiritually mature than I was, he was older, and I generally thought there was no way he'd be interested in me. And then there was the fact that he was totally the strong, silent type who did not really give girls the time of day. So I put him out of my mind for awhile.

Now I had taken a shag dancing class at Clemson and loved it and my roommates new a little too and we started going to the parking garage by the hotel we were staying in, taking some oldies tunes, and dancing. A few guys joined us and we had fun teaching everyone our amazing (not really) moves. Surprisingly one night, Matt joined us. He had a little experience with a dance class at State and he wanted to learn what we were doing too. By the end of the summer, I felt like we knew each other a little bit better, though he still didn't really talk to me much, and I was definitely wanting to know him more.

The time came when it was the last day for the staff to be with us. They would go back home and the students would run things for the last few weeks of the project. Nothing had changed between me and Matt and I was praying hard! I prayed that if Matt was the answer to those prayers I'd prayed all year, he wouldn't leave without making some plan for us to stay in touch. We had a goodbye dinner that night and each of the student Bible Study groups did a little skit/song for their leader and then we headed back to the hotel. Still no talking with Matt. Still praying. Finally at the last minute, we decided to head over to dance in the parking garage and Matt ended up joining us. As we danced, like some surreal experience, I found him asking to call me and writing down my phone number. He left the next morning with the other staff.

Several days later, I got a card in the mail. It was from Matt and said he wanted to come back for the last weekend of project (some of the staff did this) and take me on a date. When the time came, he had a picnic planned for us by the river. He had some students set it up so that when we walked to the place he had picked out, our meal (that he had cooked!) was all laid out on a blanket. It was a nice date and then we headed to the favorite karaoke place near the hotel to join our friends. At the end of the night, he did say that he wanted to keep getting to know me and that he'd call me when I went back home, but it may be a few weeks.

I remember that he called sooner than I expected, with an invitation to go see George Strait in concert on the night of my 21st birthday. We had that weekend together and a few others as he came to visit me at Clemson or I went to his parents' house. But then in October, he headed off to Basic Training and we wouldn't see each other till Christmas. We wrote letters almost every day and we did get an occasional weekend phone conversation, usually only a few minutes long. He had carefully planned out little gifts for me and given his mom a schedule of when to send them to me. He sent me candy, flowers, music, etc. and I had never received such care, even though he was far away in Missouri.

At Christmas, he planned to come visit me at my parents' house. At that point, we still didn't really know each other that well, but I had been used to very brief dating relationships and this was the longest for me. I didn't really know what to do with it or what to think and when we were finally together again, I was even more confused because it is kind of weird to communicate with someone almost completely by letter for a few months and then suddenly be together 24/7. I remember one morning of his visit just praying about our relationship and feeling God tell me to just follow his lead and not worry about it. A few hours later, we headed out to go see a movie, but Matt wanted to stop by the park to give me a few presents he'd gotten in MO. I didn't think anything of it since he was always getting me gifts.

We found a bench to sit down on and Matt brought out the presents. He had a construction paper sign with a question for each gift, like "What's the MO state nickname?"(except I think they rhymed) and then gave me a little bear with "Show me state" on it. This went on for awhile, with some of the gifts being things he had bought and some being promises of things to come (like a nice dinner in Durham the next week) and some memorabilia from our very short past (like having a toast in the cups we used on our first date). Finally one of his questions said he needed to stop and tell me how he felt about me. I thought, "Okay, that's what this is all about. He's going to say he loves me." And he did, but then produced a beautiful ring. I was a bit stunned, yet still had the presence of mind to remember what God had showed me that morning...to trust him and leave it to him, so (after my shocked, "Are you sure?" first response) I felt confident in saying yes. I remember being in such a daze as it really all happened so fast. I remember going to the bathroom during the movie (one of the Lord of the Rings movies) and just staring at the ring. God did answer my prayers and send me "the one" that summer. We were married about 8 months later, having still not really spent much time together because of Matt's army schools, and began our adventure as husband and wife. And it has definitely been an adventure, thanks to the army and these kiddos! I love you, Matt! I'm so glad that God brought us together and that I can share life with you.

Happy Valentine's Day...and if you have a blog and a story (or email!!), I'd love to hear yours--even if I already know it!

The winners

I posted the Valentine pictures I took awhile back that were pretty bad, but I did have a few that were okay, which we used for cards for the grands and great-grands. Wanted to share those.

Fun Weekend

Again, no pictures to share, but we have had a good weekend so far. I don't think we did much of anything Friday, but Saturday morning we got everyone up early (how in the world you parents wake your kids up every day is beyond me!) and headed in the 30 something degree downpour to drop the kids off with Matt's parents so I could go to the gym with Matt. Our workout involved running outside and I was starting to feel like Cindy and Barnette had the better end of this deal! But it was fun to be a part of the gym for a day and to meet some of the clients and lo and behold, by the time it was my turn to workout, the rain stopped and it was not as bad as I imagined. I am definitely super sore today and my suspicions that I am totally weak were very much confirmed, but I was glad to spend the morning with Matt and get a workout. It sure does feel good to work hard right after you finish!

We had another family event last night. We went to Matt's sister's house for her twins' 5th birthday party. It was relaxed and fun, but we didn't get to stay long due to a certain tiny creature's crankiness. I know before too long Julia won't be a baby anymore and we'll have a lot more flexibility, so I didn't mind so much.

And we have more things coming up to look forward to...going to Matt's parents' to watch the game tonight and during the week, a few opportunities to play with cousins and friends, plus a visit from Mimi and GrandGene coming up, and celebrating Valentine's Day. (Just praying not to be throwing up on this holiday like last year!) I love Valentine's Day! I don't know if I've always felt this way (like as a teenager when some of my friends were showered with gifts from boyfriends and I didn't have one!), but I do have fond memories of the day when I was younger. Exchanging valentines at school was always fun and then my mom would also always get us a little fun something for the occasion. I still have memories of a change purse in the shape of a heart, with water and glitter inside it that she gave me at the breakfast table on Valentine's Day one year. Random, but fun. One thing I think is great about Valentine's Day is that there's no pressure about the deeper meaning or combatting the commercialism....because it IS a commercial holiday anyway and it's just about showing love. So at Christmas, I'm always trying so hard to get the point across to the kids that it's Jesus's birthday and not about them and not about the gifts. And at Easter, same thing, and we don't even do any kind of Easter basket or gifts because it just seems too hard to make the connection to them and Jesus's death and resurrection. But then there's Valentine's Day where the meaning is plain to understand and we can just have fun giving a little gift and showing lots of love to each other! The last two years, we've gotten the boys a little gift and done a "treasure hunt" to find the gifts. I'm looking forward to doing that again this year. Well I need to do a few things before we head over to watch the Super Bowl. Hope you all have a fun and healthy week!

Beating the Winter Blahs

It was so nice having a warm day Wednesday, but the cold yesterday and today has had us feeling a little blah. Here's what we've been doing on these long, cold, days inside:


The boys made up a pretend game called "camp out", where they go bring a bunch of stuff onto the guest bed and hang out, reading books, playing, and generally getting along! (woo hoo!) They did this for over an hour yesterday and that's what they're doing right now. Love this, especially considering how our week started with all the fighting. These moments are such an encouragement to my prayer life because I see change and hope!


I broke out the box of baby toys for Julia that I had put away when she outgrew them. "New" toys are always a hit, though the boys seemed to enjoy them more than her. She just wanted to get in the box and then was back to wanting me to carry her around.


"New" shoes! Julia has been obsessed with shoes this week. Somehow I think this is only a sign of what's to come:) She wants to wear her shoes from the time she gets up until (and including) when she goes to bed. I have to hide them at the end of the day if I want to avoid a flip out.

Also, I got some of the balls out of the garage that we never play with since Pogo would tear them up. Julia has been very into balls lately--or at least talking about them--so I figured this would be a good boredom buster. Again, the boys are having more fun with them than her, but she likes them too. Hope you can understand her saying her two favorite words, shoes and ball, in these movies. She actually sounds like she says "green ball" in one of them (she does NOT know her colors, so just coincidence) and "big ball" many times, which I'm not sure if that's really what she's saying or not, but it's probably going down in her notebook anyway:)

How's that working out for ya?

So Matt's plan to take Pogo's electric fence collar off in order to keep him home seemed successful for a couple of days....and then he started running away again. Matt's taken to (affectionately) referring to him as "Bozo" instead of Pogo.

And then there was the incident Tuesday night. Around 3 am, I heard some crazy commotion in the laundry room, followed by Pogo whimpering, then silence. I struggled to wake up and figure out what was going on. I finally determined that the noise could be nothing except Pogo's crate rattling, then realized that he was quiet, then realized that may not be a good thing considering all the noise before and the fact that he was clearly distressed. So I finally got out of the bed and went to check on him. He had so rattled him crate around that it was now resting on top of one of Julia's little stacking cups. Who does that?! Also, his collar was stuck in the side of the crate and he had wiggled out of it, hence all the noise. So I fixed his crate and settle him down and went back to bed. About 5 minutes later, the rattling begins again. I decided he must just have had a sudden urge to pee or something (which never happens, but who knows) and let him out. Of course he ran away. Julia and I tromped through the woods Wednesday morning and found him at his other family's house. He willingly came home with us, but only stayed an hour or so before running away again and we haven't seen him since. We tried the usual drive over to the neighbors last night to pick him up and he typically comes running down their drive and hops in the car like we're picking him up from a play date, but last night he didn't come. I guess we need a new plan. Please come home, Pogo!

Always ready...sort of

So after several "we have a showing in two hours" flip outs, I'm trying to be a little more prepared. For awhile, I sort of forgot that we could have someone look at the house since no one called for a month or two, but then we got a few calls in January and I started waking every morning thinking, "Will I get a call in a few hours that will change all the plans I have for today and send me in a cleaning frenzy?" So I feel like I need to always be ready.

I'm learning things like how if the kitchen is dirty, I feel like the rest of the house is even dirtier than it is. I now try to clean the kitchen and floors every morning after breakfast so if I get that call, I don't feel as overwhelmed. The other thing I've learned is when I see a mess, I need to clean it right then--or have the boys clean it right then. That one doesn't happen as much as it should, but it does help not to procrastinate. It's hard to be motivated, considering we've had only 4 showings since the end of summer. Actually I can only think of 3 at the moment so maybe the 4th was the one that wanted to come when we were sick. Anyway, I guess no matter how many showings we have, there will only be one buyer, so it's actually preferable to have only 10 showings and 1 buyer than 40 showings and still 1 buyer. I will still probably freak out the next time we get a showing, which always seems to be only a few hours notice, but maybe I'll be a little more prepared next time!

And speaking of "always ready", it's Matt's gym motto or whatever you call it and I'm finally starting to get that feeling that I need to find a way to work out again. Matt offered to put together a list of workouts I can do at home during nap time, which is really my only option. So far this week I've done one spontaneous 4 minute workout that Matt sprung on me when we were outside. I do know now that starting CrossFit after a long break can kill you, so I paced myself...and still struggled to walk down the stairs for the next few days. Saturday Matt is arranging for his parents to babysit so I can actually go to the gym (thanks, Barnette and Cindy) and I'm a little wary since I haven't worked out in front of anyone in 2 years (yikes) and I'm going to be sooo weak and slow, but I am looking forward to meeting some of our members. I don't even think I've met half of them! So we'll see how the new plan goes. I think it will be tough to use my precious naptime to work out instead of get stuff done, but I'm going to give it a try because I just don't see my "I have a newborn" excuse holding up much longer:)

Parenting Woes

Well this week has not been a stellar one for behavior so far and apparently my parenting methods aren't helping matters too much. The major issue is Joshua aggravating Gray and Gray finding that he must shout about every annoyance. And if Joshua keeps up whatever he's doing, Gray escalates to throwing a fit and/or hitting Joshua/throwing things at him/etc. So I thought to myself that what we really need is swift and consistent punishment on Joshua every time he bothers Gray. Joshua LOVES his stuffed animals and keeps his bed full of them at night. Each one is special to him and if you dare suggest giving any away, he thinks he will probably die.

So I told him today that he must go and get a stuffed animal and put it on my bed every time he bothers Gray and he won't get them back till tomorrow morning. He seemed very upset by this and I explained that I was glad he didn't like it because we need to work together to help him stop doing the wrong thing and punishment will do that...supposedly. Fast forward to 11 am. I've accumulated 5 or 6 stuffed animals in a couple of hours. Joshua goes upstairs where Gray is and I hear him tell Gray, "I don't like that!" and then Gray starts crying like he's hurt. A few minutes pass and Joshua comes downstairs. I ask him what he did to Gray. He says, "I kicked him because he was being silly. I put two animals on your bed." Great. He's dolling out his own punishment...even doubling it...and it's not phasing him a bit.

I keep telling myself that they are no different than me. I fall into the same sin over and over again and at times I think I will never move on. But when you're the one responsible for teaching and guiding these children and that is your primary job, it sure is frustrating to feel like you're failing. I've definitely been reminded a lot this week about how much our whole family needs the Holy Spirit to work in us! Now if we could just get on some kind of "fast track" to change plan.... I have a feeling it's not going to work that way:)