Small Children and Sports

We officially entered the world of little kid sports last year when Caleb played soccer and basketball as a four year old. This year we've got two participants - Caleb and Isaac are playing together in the 4-Kindergarten soccer league - AND Nolan is the coach.

Yesterday was our first practice. We have 8 players - 4, 4 year-olds and 4, 5 year-olds. For those of you who either haven't experienced this phenomena or it's been a long time - you must decide quickly to be either really relaxed or really upset about your kid who alternates between spinning in circles in the grass or running to mommy for a drink. I've chosen relaxed - but not every parent does.

Last night's practice was pretty good - we have 3 strong players - one of whom is Caleb - the other two are also 5 years-old. The 4 year-olds really have a hard time getting it. Of the 8 players, 2 sat with their moms the entire practice, 1 didn't show up, and 1 just wanted to carry the ball. Isaac actually did pretty good - except for the occasional lay down in the grass moment.

Nolan did really well with the kids - as I expected. But the best moment was when I passed out bubble gum at the end of practice.

My brother and I didn't play sports growing up - so this is a whole new world for me. Caleb is definitely a sports nut - from birth he's been fascinated with any ball he could get his hands on - and it continues to this day. Isaac - well we'll see. He's got a lot of natural ability - but the desire doesn't seem as strong. Benjamin is of course to young to make much comment - but I will say he is just as fascinated with balls as Caleb was - so we'll see.

Go "Grey Grizzly Bears"! (That's our team.)

Sidetracked Home Executives

I'm not quite ready to say, "this is the best thing since sliced bread," but I'm close. Give me a couple of months to implement "the system", and I'll let you know for sure. A friend of mine and I were visiting recently about juggling all the responsibilities of keeping a home, raising a family, being a good wife, working outside the home and doing our part in our community and church. I for one have felt like a failure in just about everything I've done for the past several years. I don't say that to elicit sympathy - it's just a fact. I've longed for those long gone days when I felt successful, businesslike and purposeful. Well, I've got my fingers crossed (and all my toes for good measure) and am hoping this new "system" will work for me!

The same friend I referenced earlier recommended this book - Sidetracked Home Executives. I went to the library and checked it out - now I'll be buying my own copy. I'm not naturally a "BO" - born organizer - if you are, you would probably not benefit much from this system - but for people like me - who get sidetracked easily - it's the solution I've been waiting for for a long time.

So far, I've bought my 3x5 index cards in four different colors, my 3x5 card-holder box and my dividers. Working from the provided job list, I've put EVERY job that I can think of regarding our home (daily thru yearly). Now I will put them behind their proper divider (jan-dec, 1-31). Then, by using a rotating system, I'll have my "to do" list "automatically" generated every day. The second part of the system is going through every closet, cabinet, drawer and "stack" in my house - sorting, purging and organizing. Fortunately, I'm not a "keeper of things" so it shouldn't be to hard - but still a lot of work.

My goal is to have everything on track by the holidays. We'll see....oh, and another of my favorite parts of this system - it gives recommendations on delegating certain tasks to family members - including how to get kids involved in family chores and what is age appropriate.

So if you're looking for something like this in your life - get a copy of the book "Sidetracked Home Executives." I think they have another book that's newer - but I've heard it gets away from the original plan and people don't like it as much. And, one more plus - the book is stinking hilarious!! Even if you are a BO I recommend reading it just for the laughs.

Grateful?

A friend and I were talking the other day about trying to teach our kids the virtue of being grateful. It's much harder than I anticipated. But I'm keeping at it - after all, endurance is also a virtue.

It does seem when I'm trying to teach my kids a specific something, I start noticing shortcoming in the same area. For example, recently I've really been trying to get Nolan to see my point of view when it comes to our "need" of a bigger house. After all, we are expecting baby #4. We currently live in a 3 bedroom house. I have NO problem with kids sharing rooms - but my issue is our living room - it's tiny and there is no other "bonus" space except for the yard - which is great when the Panhandle weather cooperates. But, when you get that much energy in such a small space the result is nothing short of chaos and tears. Unfortunately several years ago I made an innocent comment about how my aunt and uncle raised 9 kids in a 3 bedroom house and all their kids turned out just fine....Nolan has never let me forget that - or the fact that anyone living in any foreign country raises their families in half the space that we have. I keep reminding him that we do not live in a foreign country. Of course all my friends agree with me - we have to have more space - if it seems a little tight now - we're gonna bust out the seems in a couple of years when the youngest of our little brood really gets going. So we've started looking - but I've been given some ground rules in advance - (1) it is going to have to be an amazing/once in lifetime kind of deal before he's interested; (2) we will not take out more than a 15 year mortgage - and that mortgage will fit easily in our budget; (3) it's probably not going to happen.

I took those "rules" in stride, all the while thinking I can convince Nolan of our need in due time. Now here's where God hit me with the virtue of gratefulness. Am I grateful for the adorable home that we have? Am I grateful that I have a husband that believes in living within our means? Am I grateful for the love and joy that come from family - even if it also comes with chaos and tears? Am I grateful for LIFE?

So I've continued to happily drive by homes for sale - occasionally looking in one. I've also researched the possibility of adding on to our current home. But in the meantime, I've been working on changing my attitude to one of being grateful for where we are, what we have, who we are and WHOSE we are - instead of constantly thinking "if only." So have I achieved "gratefulness"? Well like I said in the beginning - it's much harder than I anticipated, but I'll keep on trying. And, for now, I believe my attitude is much better - now we'll see if I can teach my kids that same lesson - after all one of the Christmas toy catalogs came in the mail yesterday - and for not being able to read yet, they sure have lots of things circled that they have "wanted my whole life mommy!".

First Day of School

Today was Caleb and Isaac's first day of school. Caleb is going to kindergarten, and Isaac is in Pre-K. Caleb reminded me that this is his 3rd year of school - it's true and kind of sad - although he loves school. Also, he'll be in kindergarten this year at a private school and then we'll do kindergarten again next year at public school - because he's so young for his class. So when my kid finishes kindergarten he'll have been in school 5 years. There is definitely something wrong with that. But, my options were a babysitter where he would sit in front of the tv all morning, or Pre-K/Kindergarten. Did I choose right? I hope so - yet another of many parenting decisions where there is no clear cut answer.

When I dropped the boys off for school this morning, I was reminded again of how different each of my children are. Both were excited and so big carrying their backpacks and other school supplies - each equally excited about the new year. We took Caleb to his class first. He went in and didn't even make it to his seat before he was talking up a storm with anyone who would listen. One mom wanted to take a picture of her son's table (including Caleb) but he was to busy talking to pause and smile. The mom looked at me and said, he'll stop talking eventually. I replied - probably not.

Isaac was a different story. He was fine until we got in the middle of the crowd of parents and kids. His entire face changed - he "blanked out" on us. He did not want to go in his class. When we went in, he didn't want to sit in his chair or play with his puzzle (which is one of his favorite things to do). I've got to hand it to him though. He worriedly asked when we would pick him up - we assured him we'd pick him up before lunch - and he went to work on his puzzle.

I'll find out this afternoon how the day went. It's amazing how many more prayers you fit into your day when you're seeking the Lord on your kids behalf. :)

Isaac's Birthday

Isaac (son #2) turned 4 years old on Saturday. What fun! We started with cinammon roll birthday cake - which is really cinammon rolls on a platter with candles and a superman action figure. Yummy! (Especially since Betty Smith made the rolls.) Afterwards, we went to Amarillo - saw our midwife - heard baby Silvey's heartbeat - ran a couple of errands - and went to WONDERLAND. My goodness - we planned for 2 hours and stayed for 4 hours. The weather was perfect - the boys had a blast! I love birthdays - especially at this age - they are so much fun! I'll try to remember to post pictures later when I'm at my home computer.

By the way - I rode two rides - the Scrambler and The Sky Walk. Somewhere since becoming a mom roller coasters have lost their appeal. I hope that the desire will come back when I'm not so responsible for so many lives - we'll see.

Pregnant....Again

Well, as most of you know by now, Silvey baby #4 is on the way. I've found out that after baby #2, people start wondering if you know what causes babies - which of course is their polite way of saying - "are you crazy!" I've either come up with or been told some pretty creative answers - (1) Yes, we're just not willing to give that up yet; (2) Yes, but we're addicted; (3) Yes, do you? Because we'll be happy to give you some pointers.

But after all that I'm starting to wonder if I really do understand the whole process. After all, with baby #1 and baby #3 I was very determined to get pregnant, and it took 6 months of actively trying before we succeeded. With baby #2, a baby we lost, and baby #4 - I was completely surprised. So evidently, while I think I know "how babies are made" - I must be missing something. Now, this isn't an open invitation to give me the talk on the birds and the bees - just me figuring out one more thing I don't know.

Time will tell

I just posted our homebirth story - about Benjamin's homebirth. As I did so, I noticed a draft in my post box that was also labeled Home Birth but dated back in February. I read through it and realized I must have written it, but never finished it or published it. It was very interesting to read the two different posts. There are lots of similarities - but some details were different. It's amazing how time can play tricks on your memory. If you have time, I suggest you read the both Homebirth posts and compare.

BTW - I'm not sure why when you save a draft and go back and edit it and publish it later it still posts with the original date...if you know how to change this I'd like to know.

Homebirth

I was just reminiscing about Benjamin's birth, and decided I should blog his birth story. It was a really special event in our household, and I would hate for time to erase the details.


For those of you who don't know, we had Benjamin at home. If you had asked me before, if I would be a homebirth candidate, I would have had the same reaction you get from most people - uh, no, I've never considered it - but I believe the comfort and safety of the hospital is just fine for me. I'm a rule follower - and the general consensus is that birth happens in hospitals. My first two children were born in the hospital - and we had textbook labor and delivery.


When we decided to have a third baby I started down the traditional birth route. But, was trying to figure out how to make our costs as minimal as possible considering we didn't have maternity insurance. That's when I first considered homebirth. I researched online, talked to people who had done homebirth, interviewed midwives, and talked to my OB. My OB told me in no uncertain terms that homebirth was for selfish parents who didn't consider their child. I don't really fault him for his view - after all he's probably seen some things that would have gone really badly if they hadn't been in a hospital. But, considering my history of easy pregnancy, fast/easy labor and equally fast/easy delivery - I felt like I was a good candidate. So I proceeded with my search. I knew IF I was going to deliver at home, I wanted a really good "back-up" plan in place. So I went to my regular doctor in our small town - who also delivers babies. She was all for homebirth and agreed to be my "back-up" if needed. So then I had to choose a midwife.


I found one I liked who had delivered more than 3000 babies. She came to our home for all the prenatal check-ups - and the pregnancy stage was uneventful. I did continue my constant research on homebirth and joined an online homebirth group - afterall, this was new territory.


About mid-October I started have some contractions. My due date had been estimated sometime around November 22. But I thought that was a little late - so I hoped the contractions were real. But nothing. I was on the phone with my midwife several times during the next few weeks with contractions. She told me it sounded like our little one had "a hand up." His little hand was making contact with my cervix - which started contractions, but since there wasn't anything to make a good connection nothing more would happen. She checked me a few times and said the same thing.


Finally on November 7, I started having regular contractions again - not painful, but regular. I called Leah, our midwife, and told her I was ready to have a baby - what could we do. She agreed to come up and see if she could move the baby's hand, and then, if he was ready, things should get going. It was a Wednesday - so I went with Nolan to youth - he got everything going with the back-up team. Everyone was excited to hear the news. It was kind of surreal to be in labor - but walking around visiting with everyone.


A friend of mine agreed to bring the older boys home after children's church - to give us time to get the "hand moved" and see how things progressed. So we went home and met our midwife around 7:45 p.m. She moved the baby's hand - which was indeed very uncomfortable - but not painful. Leah then left with her husband to go to dinner and visit some friends. She agreed to check back in a couple of hours to see if anything was happening. I took a nice bath. And, around 8:30 I could start to tell the difference in contractions. They were getting closer together and began to pinch a little. As long as I was seated - nothing was to uncomfortable. A couple of girls from our youth group stopped by - eager to see a lady in labor. I'm afraid I may have disappointed them - no screaming or fast breathing. I told them they could come back in a few hours for the real show - they declined.


Leah came back around 10 p.m. and checked me - I was dilated to about a 4. She figured we'd go all night and have a baby in the morning. So after we visited for a little while, she went out to her suburban to grab a nap. Nolan and I went to bed around 11:30 - our older boys had been in bed for a couple of hours already.


I laid in bed 'till 12:30 a.m. having contractions but not feeling like I was making any progress. I decided to get up and walk around and get things moving. Sure enough as I made laps around my living room the intensity picked up. I turned on the tv and watched HGTV until 1 - while still doing laps. I thought I'd have Leah come in at 1 and check me again - but lo and behold House Hunters came on - normally I don't really like that show - but amazingly I actually knew the buyer on this episode - he was an old high school friend, and I wanted to see the show. So I waited to call Leah. During the next 30 minutes - I knew we were getting close. I moaned and groaned - quietly - I didn't want to miss the show - and continued walking - interspersed with leaning against the wall and getting on my knees leaning over a chair. The episode ended at 1:30 a.m. I woke Nolan up - we called Leah. She came in and checked me - I was a 10. Nolan and Leah flew into action getting the supplies ready. I continued to walk and moan. Finally I sat down on the bed and the baby shifted and away we went. I started to push - and yell. About that time our youngest son woke up and came in - Nolan picked him up and he went to sleep on daddy's shoulder. I didn't want Nolan to be distracted from Isaac so instead of yelling for my husband, I yelled for my mommy - how embarrassing - I love my mom - but you should NOT yell for your mommy during labor. Benjamin's cord was wrapped around his neck 3 times - Leah calmly said, slow down and unwrapped the cord. Then I pushed and out he came - born at 2:03 a.m., Thursday, November 8, 2007.

We did the traditional cord cutting, weighing, feeding....but I can't really remember what order. I do know that Benjamin nursed like a champ - it's amazing how much better he nursed since I didn't have an epidural.

Leah cleaned up - and for those of you who are wondering about the mess - everything is draped in plastic shower curtain liners and you just fold them up and throw them in the trash - although the trash does have to be hauled to a special place - hasmat or something.

I took a nice shower/bath to clean up. Then I got back in bed. Caleb (our oldest was up by then), Isaac, Nolan and I enjoyed our new little one. The older boys were pumped - you couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces. Then we proceeded to choose a name. We were planning on naming him Bo - but it just didn't fit. Caleb had suggested Benjamin. Nolan and I agreed. And he was named Benjamin John. Benjamin means Son of Good Fortune, and John means Beloved. So far, we have chosen Bible names for our children's first names and family names for their middle names. John is after both my grandad and Nolan's grandad.

Leah was gone by 4 a.m. - The boys were back in bed. And Nolan and I made a couple obligatory phone calls and went to sleep for a couple of hours.

We were both amazed at how much better my recovery was at home. I had some post-partum depression issues with my first two - nothing like that with Benjamin. I'm not saying it was because of the homebirth - but it was very nice to be in my own bed, in my own home.

All in all it was an amazing experience! One I hope to have again.

BTW - Benjamin measured in at 7 lbs. 8 oz and 20 1/2 inches.

As I write this post Benjamin - also known as Ben-Jammin' is 8 1/2 months old. He is the most laid-back baby ever. He started sleeping through the night (8p.m. - 6:30 a.m.) at 9 weeks!! And never lacks for attention from his big brothers!

Ignorance is bliss?

The other day I had a conversation with a pregnant friend of mine about vitamins. Her doctor put her on iron pills for anemia. I proceeded to tell her about the new iron pills I had discovered with my last pregnancy - the absorbable iron pills that cost $20 a bottle at the health food store (versus the regular $2 a bottle iron pills from Wal-Mart). My midwife had recommended them. She had also told me how to test a vitamin to see if it was actually being absorbed by your body - put it in a glass of room-temp water for 10 minutes - if it starts to dissolve, it works. So anyway, after this conversation where I told my friend every vitamin fact that I know - and totally confused the poor girl - I wondered if I should have just kept my mouth shut. After all, pregnancy is overwhelming enough without second-guessing your vitamins.

I've always believed you're responsible for what you know - usually I apply this to my Christian walk. You know, God teaches us a new concept or lesson, and thereafter we are held accountable for that knowledge. So, does it work that way with other stuff - like vitamins? Do Wal-Mart vitamins work - until you are "enlightened" about the "real" vitamins? It's kind of like the old "if a tree falls in a forest and there's nobody around to here it"....scenario.

Anyway, I'll continue taking my $20 a bottle vitamins just in case - and I MAY keep my mouth shut next time.

Extreme Faith

I just started a new devotional yesterday - called "Extreme Devotion" - written by the same people who put together "Voice of the Martyrs". Day one was about a man who was imprisoned for distributing Christian literature in a Muslim country. At first he was upset and demanded God get him out - then after spending some time in prayer and worship - he remembered his plans were not God's plans - and he submitted to God's will. He began preaching in the prison - after he was released several of the former prisoners whom he ministered to while in prison came to him and wanted to know more. The devotional reminded me to turn over my plans and submit to God's plans. Of course my life isn't as extreme as his - but it's still easy to hold to tightly to what I think is best. An old lesson - but one I needed to be reminded of.

Aunt Salem

Aunt Salem - now doesn't that have a nice ring to it. I've been waiting for years to be someone's aunt....I remember one of my friends got to be an aunt in the sixth grade, and here I've had to wait until I'm 30. My brother, Seth, and his wife, Katie, made the big announcement this weekend - they are due February 13th. Yipee!

Flowers

Disclaimer: This is my first post about the joys of living in a small town - but first a tribute to my husband.

My wonderful husband had a beautiful bouquet of flowers delivered to our home on my 30th birthday. We had a discussion the week before about how he never knows exactly what flowers I really like - part of that problem comes from me. I tend to change my mind - I don't have one favorite flower. Flowers to me have personalities - and the best I can figure, I like whichever one suits my mood at the moment. Well, this time he went in to the flower shop and asked Terry (the owner) to put in every "funky flower" he could find. Well kudos to Nolan and Terry - this is by far my favorite bouquet ever! (I'll post a picture later.)

Ok, now for the small town part: When this beautiful bouquet arrived at my door - I was in the middle of bathing our 7 month old son, Benjamin. Our five-year-old son, Caleb answered the door. I could hear the person at the door talking to Caleb - and recognized the voice of a woman who attends our church - whom I know works at the flower shop. Being the ever-attentive mom that I am, I didn't leave the baby in the tub - or get him out and wrap him in a towel - and go to the door. Instead, I hollered for Dana to come bring the flowers to the bathroom - which she promptly did. My beautiful, huge arrangement was gently placed on the bathroom counter, and we discussed child rearing (her boys are all grown). Afterwards, she showed herself out. I LOVE living in a small town!

The Absent Blogger

I struggled with starting a blog because I didn't want to be the absent blogger. And here I am, four months after my last post - picking it up again. I guess it's ok - because I haven't told anyone that I even have a blog - so for now it's just me that I'm disappointing.

So what am I going to do about it - to fix the absent blogger syndrome. (1) Set some blogging goals - (a) tell some people I have a blog; (b) find a subject I really like to write about (small town life). I recently started running and have found it's much easier to be motivated if I have a goal - like a race to prepare for - so I'm going to apply the same concept with blogging.

Ok now that that's out of the way, I'm going to start a new post - a fresh start!

Home Birth

Just over three months ago our third son - Benjamin John - was born...at home. Good or bad, I consider myself a play by the rules kind of person - and "the rules" don't promote home birth. So how did I find myself here?



Well - honestly it started with cost. A hospital birth without maternity insurance takes a bite out of the budget. But cost alone is not a good reason to make the decision to birth at home. So I did what I do best - research. I searched the Internet - I read books - I talked to home birthers - I interviewed midwives and doctors.



This is what I found...considering my two previous uncomplicated pregnancies - and easy/fast deliveries - I was an excellent candidate for home birth. When I didn't click with my new OBGYN - that sealed the deal.



So we hired Leah - a very skilled midwife - with more than 3000 births under her belt. She came to see us once a month and did all of our prenatal care. When I started contracting a month early - she realized that the baby had a hand up on his head and was causing false contractions.



After three weeks of false contractions - I was tired. Leah offered to move the baby's hand - and said if it was time then labor would start - if not we'd wait. So, on Wednesday, Nov 7, Nolan got the youth service started and then we headed home to meet Leah. About 7:45 p.m. she moved the baby's hand (and yes it hurt a little). About 45 minutes later - the real contractions started. Nolan and I put the boys to bed and hung out - Leah and her husband went to eat - a couple of girls from Mpact (our youth group) stopped by to see what a lady in labor looks like. I noticed if I stood up things got more intense - if I sat down things slowed down. Leah came back around 10 or 10:30 - I was a 5. We visited. I sent Leah to bed at 11 and Nolan and I followed shortly thereafter. He slept - I laid there. Finally at 12:30 I thought if I'll get out of bed and walk around we can get this show on the road. So I went to the living room - turned on HGTV - and walked in circles. About 1 a.m. things got a little more intense and I thought I'd have Leah come check me again - but another show came on tv - and it just so happened that one of my friends from high school was in this episode of house hunters - so I watched it while my contractions continued to get stronger. At 1:30 a.m. I woke Nolan up and Leah checked me - I was a 9. They quickly got the supplies together in the bedroom - while I continued to walk (and moan). Then I sat on the bed - Leah broke my water - I leaned back and two pushes later Benjamin was born at 2:05 a.m. on November 8, 2007. Now in the meantime, Isaac woke up and was present for the birth of his brother (not planned - but pleasant) and Benjamin's cord was wrapped around his neck three times - Leah didn't sweat it - just had me pause in pushing - unwrapped the cord and finished delivering him. Caleb joined us shortly after that - and we had a wonderful time. All along we intended to name this baby Bo. But as Caleb and I sat on the bed with the baby he said we should name him Benjamin. A few minutes later as I was cleaning up in the bathroom - Nolan asked what I wanted to name him - I said Benjamin John - and Nolan said - that's what I was thinking. So Bo became Benjamin - son of good fortune.



The best part of the entire experience was not in the home birth - but in the home recovery. The next few days were so amazing.

Fear

Have you ever heard the old saying, "the best way to kill a frog is to put him in a pan of cold water and then slowly turn up the heat"? I was thinking about that today and applied it to how my devotional life is so different than it once was - I'm not dead yet - but the heat is on high. Somehow during the past few years I've lost the passion that I once had for God. And I want it back. Being the "preacher's wife" I'm full of advice on that particular subject...but how to apply it to my life is so much harder. Do I like writing these words for everyone to see? No. I feel like a failure. But if by chance I succeed in jumping out of this pan of hot water - I want others to see how.

I feel like I've been strangled by fear. I've decided somewhere along the line that flying under the radar is safer than making a difference for God. When it comes down to it...I haven't trusted God to take care of my family if we got to high on Satan's hit list. I want to trust God again.

Do you hear me, Lord? Show me how. Forgive me.

I would like to thank....

Thankfully none of my children have had to be in the hospital for any reason - other than birth. But that changed this weekend, when Benjamin (our 3 month old) went in for three days with RSV. I took him to the doctor Thursday with what I thought was probably an ear infection. Within thirty minutes our plans for a weekend ski trip with our youth group were changed to a hospital stay complete with breathing treatments every 4 hours and the remaining time in an oxygen tent. So many people went above and beyond in helping us - so like they do at the Oscars - I would like to thank....

First of all, my amazing husband finished the preparations for the ski trip, got them on their way (with new lead sponsors), preached an impromptu message at our church's food outreach, and still managed to get me a few things that I needed at the hospital - and that was in the first six hours - after that he camped out at the hospital with me and Benjamin - and still managed to keep track of the skiers and prepare a Sunday morning and Sunday evening sermon (to preach in place of our senior pastor) - and most importantly provide the emotional support I needed especially as breathing treatments replaced my much needed beauty rest.

Our senior pastor and his wife (Mike and Betty) graciously volunteered to take the youth group skiing so Nolan could stay with us and the youth wouldn't have to be disappointed by canceling the trip. (They really went above and beyond as they ended up in the ER two different times with kids with broken bones.)

Krystine Ramsey, a sweet girl and former Mpact Youth Group member, ran errands during her lunch break - raiding my house for various things I needed - and bringing me a sweet tea from McD's.

Chris and Pat Mendenhall - transported Caleb and Isaac (age 4 and 3) two hours to my brother and sister-in-law's house.

Seth and Katie Wieck (my sweet brother and his even sweeter wife) took wonderful care of two hyper boys for 4 days.

Our wonderful doctor, Dr. Jenny McGaughey and the staff at Ochiltree General Hospital - including our great nurses and respitory therapist took outstanding care of Benjamin and Nolan and me!

And most of all - God - the creator and sustainer of life and the great physician.

An update: We've been at home for 4 days - Benjamin is doing well. We are continuing breathing treatments and have a check up tomorrow morning.

I feel kind of silly writing this post...I have friends that have dealt with much more serious situations - that I can't imagine going through. If anything I think this slight hiccup in our lives reminds me to pray more for those we love who experience hard times.

Purposeful Connecting

Tonight I took the boys to McDonald's - we almost always go on Wednesday night when Nolan (my husband) stays at the church to get ready for Wednesday night activities (he's a youth pastor). Tonight another mom with three small children was also there. Although we didn't know each other, we had an instant bond - we understood the chaos that life becomes with small children. We just visited briefly - comparing ages of children and such - but as she left we wished each other luck. It is heartening to know there are other people out there that understand my place in life. I've just in the past few months begun to re-discover the relief of connecting with other people. I hope to get better at it - more purposeful. Not just moms. But people who share an understanding of some part of life. I think that's what makes friendships. I've never been very good at being a friend. It's kind of scary to connect - I mean seriously connect - more than a few words at McDonald's. So here's to purposeful connecting....I'll let you know how it goes.

Do you remember Doogie Howser M.D.?

Several of my friends have blogs. I read them periodically to stay current. I've never wanted one...I'm not funny; I've never had a desire to share my day to day life with people - or rather felt they would want to read about it; I don't have a life-altering circumstance that people need to know about; I don't want another thing that I have to keep up with...so why blog? Well, when it comes right down to it I've journaled most of my life and the reality is it's much faster to type than write. So as much as I love a new journal and pen - I haven't found the time for them lately (well since I started having babies) - so...I'm going to try out the blog. So, if you happen to stumble upon this blog - I hope for your sake that you find it as fascinating as I did when Doogie Howser M.D. wrote a few lines each week back in the 80's or 90's (whichever it was?). Thank goodness we've moved passed the old black computer screens with green type (was that DOS?).