happy friday morning

(i love you)

this beautiful message was written by my youngest several years ago....but on a wet, rainy, blustery friday morning, it makes my heart happy.

She is moving back home

after several years of flight.........in her newly acquired home state of colorado........my friend is moving back to oregon. as i write this, she is packing her belongings and her cute new pooch Jack Bauer and getting ready to take a road trip back to us. her friends, her family, her home church. we have missed you debbie..........glad that you are coming home!

bushy

so you may or may not know that i turned 40 in january........i know, save the over the hill comments. i remember when my dad turned forty, i thought it was so old! now here i am.

so some interesting things about turning the big 4-0...........the week of my birthday i had night sweats. really truly. i had to wash my sheets a couple of times that week from all the sweat. remember what it is like those first few weeks after you have had a baby and all the meds are coming out of your body and you have nights sweats. anybody, anybody???? well that is what it was like! at first i did not think anything about it, but then i started having mini hot flashes at work. i would get all red and hot and my hands would swell up! YUCK!!!!

But the ultimate grossness..........the other day i was getting ready for work, putting on my eye shadow when this thing....this huge ugly white hair was protruding from my right eyebrow!!!! what the heck???? I am way too young for that! i immediately plucked that huge ugly white hair from my eyebrow and started searching for others.......thank goodness there was only one!

40 is to young for bushy eyebrows......that is reserved for grumpy old men who have nose hair and ear hair and bushy eyebrows! and if you remember this post from last year ( on getting old) i was worried that i was going to lose my eyebrows. what a difference a year and less estrogen will do.

February In Review

February is always kind of a hectic month for us, with basketball season in full swing and the winter doldrums and cold weather cabin fever at a high! We celebrate my dad's birthday at the beginning of the month and we had my niece over to stay the night. It has been a great month of enjoying our family and watching the olympics this year! we have cheered and stayed up late and watched america win gold, silver and bronze! both of the kids are totally into it this year, which is fun. they are anxious for the summer olympics to arrive!

oh.......and here a couple of pix to have fun with too!

the girls found dress up clothes. the dress sydnie is wearing was my old freshman winter formal dress. yep, my mom cannot bear to get rid of them.

noah did not want to wear a prom dress, so he opted for the work wear.
my old mcdonald's hat. yep, i worked there for a summer
and my old fred meyer smock. yep, i used the word smock!

aren't they too cute!

oh wait..........i was wrong........
introducing...............noah, the fairy godmother!

noah had to give a speech for class........what would you do if you were president!
we created a campaign poster and he delivered his speech with a thumbs up
at the end! i am fairly certain he laughed through the whole thing!

sydnie's upward team had their year end party!
we painted big J's on the girls faces to celebrate the end of a great year!

celebratory cupcakes.....provided by sydnie!

Interesting

so i had seen this article posted by a friend on facebook. i bookmarked it. i finally read it.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/january/12.22.html?sms_ss=facebook&start=1

interesting concepts in there. all too true that we set our parenting to forumulas given to us by child experts. do we parent by faith? we are judged and we judge others by their parenting skills and how there children are behaving. a couple of key points that spoke to my heart.


"We must proceed, then, on our knees first, beggars before the throne, if we are to parent well."

"Parenting, like all tasks under the sun, is intended as an endeavor of love, risk, perseverance, and, above all, faith."

"It is faith rather than formula, grace rather than guarantees, steadfastness rather than success that bridges the gap between our own parenting efforts, and what, by God's grace, our children grow up to become."


enjoy it if you read it. interested to see what others think about it.

musings on a thursday morning.....

i am not sure where to start with this post. the thoughts keep rattling around in my head. so as i write bear with me, it might get messy.

in our society we have parents of many different attitudes. i came from the thought of protect my children, be the best mom i can be and be my child's advocate! when i was a SAHM i never gave two thoughts to this type of attitude. it was what i did. i was a mom! (i still am by the way)

along that road i ran into some different attitudes. why do you always have to know where your kids are? why don't you give them some freedoms? why can't they walk home by themselves? etc, etc, etc. again..............never even gave it a thought. this was my way of parenting. like it or don't.

now this is a paticularly sensitive subject for me, since my mom is the queen of overprotective. i never, ever remember being left alone when i was young, not even as a teenager. if my mom had to go to the store, then i did too. when she is with me and the kids now, she constantly has to know where they are, even to the point that she wants them to hold her hand. i have worked very, very hard to not be that. in public situations with lots and lots of people they do have to be near me. i need to know where they are, because you never know what could happen. but again.....i have worked very, very hard to not be "that" mom.

then i started working. i worked in a place that sees many different parenting styles. i saw my attitude change a little. it was not a bad thing...in fact it was healthy and we have grown so much from it. but what kills me here is: my type of parenting was thought of in the same way a neglectful parents was. that has been an eye opener for me. it really shocked me at first. a caring parent is not the right thing to be??? some people don't like parents like me who protect, who advocate for my kids, who care???? how could that be???? i know i am a good mom. how could it be that a protective mom, a caring mom is looked down upon.

last week we had to take noah to an appointment that challenged me as a parent. that brought to life my worst fears for him. that broke my heart. i cried. i cried in the shower. i cried making dinner. i cried at the appt. i just cried.

but then something else happened. as noah was talking with some people.....thad and i got to talk to someone. it was cathartic. as we explained to this person different situations and how we parented, he sat and listened. he took it all in. then he turns to me...............and says "i just want to commend you, i wish every parent was like you!!!" what????? did i just hear that correctly??? there was no condemnation, there was no judgement.........he actually told me that i had done everything right for my son!!!! you mean i am not overprotective??? i am not too caring??? i am not too much of an advocate for my child??? WOW..........that was completely validating for me!!!! not only did we have a great experience at this appointment, but i got to walk out of it with a little more confidence to continue to say "I don't care what you think.....I am their mom!"

so to all of you moms that have little ones still...............hold strong. do what is right for your kids. don't let others tell you what to do! know that you have that power to say what does and does not work for your kids! God has called us to a very difficult and amazing job and it is a process, but in the end it is very satisfying to know that you were called to be there MOM!

New Year, New Look

her new look.
her new "i am smart" look.
her new "i am so excited to wear glasses" look.

i have been waiting for this day. knowing it would come. knowing that our kids would probably be as blind as thad and I. what i did not expect was her excitement over getting glasses! she could not wait to call her friends and tell them! she proudly wore them! i remember when i had to get glasses for the first time..........dread! i guess that glasses are different now, they are an accessory to your outfits. she has not been called a name once at school. in fact everyone thought they were super cool.....most of the teachers wanted some just like it!

for now she does not have to wear them all the time. she mainly needs them for seeing the white board at school. but she can read just fine without them. she can watch tv just fine. my favorite qoute "mom, it's like everything is in HD now with my glasses on!"

heart exposed

i have had a few good laughs over the comments regarding my construction post. Which in reality was just a simple way for me to get that stupid ritz cracker picture off my blog! i realized it had been awhile since i had posted and trust me i have lots and lots of pictures to post, but no time to do it.

i know there was speculation regarding my facebook posts as well. I can tell you all that I AM NOT PREGNANT!!!! Not that I would not like to be. I would love to be the mother to more than two children, but God has chosen for us and I accept His will.

But let me say that my heart has been heavy since Christmas. It has taken a journey of anger, denial, pain, hurt......and now it sits without burden; healing.

Many of you, my dear friends, know about my brother in law and the heartache and forgiveness that our family has experienced. It appears that his sins have come full circle and now affect someone else within our family. It has opened all of the old wounds for us. It has shaken us deeply.

We have had to draw a circle around our family. To protect. To withdraw from relationships that were tattered and now cannot be repaired. To be truth tellers to our children, who did not know. To hold my baby close.

As we have journeyed through this we have found that our family has not been entirely affected. We know that there was a situation, but we circled the wagons and were aware of it. We rest in knowledge that GOD in heaven has protected them. He has provided for us.

We grieve now. But we also know that just as before we will get through with GOD's strength and His faithfulness.

Basketball Season

it feels like i just posted about Upward.........and it has been a whole year!!! i guess that is what happens when facebook takes over your life and your stories do not become as important as farmtown or cafeworld! we are three weeks into basketball and the kids are doing awesome!

noah has really taken to basketball this year. he understands it. he wants to practice. he wants to do his best. his teammates lift him up and tell him what a good job he is doing. he actually gets to touch the ball and make baskets!!!! he is so happy when he is out there.

sydnie is really starting to show that those years of fundamentals work are paying off! she has made several lay-ins! she is rebounding!! not scared to get hit in the face! it is a huge difference from last year even! she really likes playing!

both of the kids have begged thad to play with them during the week, so they can practice and get better! they are both the tallest kids on their team..........i think thad's genes are kicking in!

so thankful for an amazing year! so thankful for thad's patience as he teaches them the fundamentals that will set them up for greatness one day! or not if they choose not to play! i guess i am just thankful that my kids are in a program that believes in lifting up kids and showing them that they are believed in and supported!