The Downside to Paradise

Well, it was bound to happen... I was cruising along with my checklist in hand, ticking off the places I needed to visit, opening checking accounts, exploring the island, enjoying the scenery and the nice breezes..... here we should cue the sound of screeching brakes and breaking glass..... I stepped onto the school grounds today to register my kids and had a total and complete breakdown... in the office.... in front of the whole office staff... they had to go get me tissues... I couldn't speak.... I just stood there like a blubbering idiot.  And then the school counselor asked me to step into her office (it was too late to preserve my dignity so I presume she was trying to shield the others from the awkwardness of my emotional outburst.)  Mama, don't get all worried now, you know I am more like Daddy and I cry at the drop of a hat... not everyone can be a stone wall like you!

Anyway, it was not all in vain. I think the counselor got my point that my kids are special, damnit, and they need some special treatment.  So we have already scheduled our first IEP meeting in Hawaii to discuss Liam's placement in classroom, etc.  Having a kid with FAS is not for the faint of heart... the stuff this kid goes through on a daily basis would make your toes curl and how he manages to do it without being a behavior problem is a mystery to me.  But sitting in an office trying to tell someone who doesn't already love and know my kids about all the special needs that Liam has, and trying to encapsulate it into a 20 minute meeting and impress the importance of his environment, well, it's just more than a mother's heart could bare.  So I cried.  Sue me!

In the end, I went with the really awesome house that opens on both sides and the gated courtyard.  There is very little yard, which could be a problem, but the house is great and the landlord seems to really care that things are in good working order, etc.  It will be a nice break for us to not have lawn maintenance to tend to, it will allow Brian more time to spend with us on the weekends.  And in the end, the owner of the home chose us out of the crowd because she said she felt a connection to me.  Maybe she read me like a book because you should know by now that she had me at "connection" and I just felt like God was giving me a little nudge of the arm... you know, like the old Southern men do when they are making a point or a joke.  Anyway... I feel so much better now that I have the home selected, etc.  The school is the scary part.  Not because it's a bad school... on the contrary, best I can tell, it's one of the best in Hawaii.  But because our school we attend now is SO amazing.  When I say amazing, I don't mean it in the sense that everyone else thinks their school is amazing.  I mean in the sense that as I was describing the services and modifications that Liam receives the counselor said, "Is this a private/specialized school?"  No, I replied.  Then she said, "It must be very small."  I said, "Well, we have 400 students in K-4.  I'm not sure if that is small or not."  And her reply was, "Oh, no, not small.  Wow!  I'd love to get more information from his current teachers and special area teachers."  Ahhhh.... that's me, smiling because what I have always known (that we have truly got the best school for my kids) is now being validated halfway around the globe.  The legend of our school will live on in the minds of the islanders and it will become the new gold standard in education.... oh, sorry.... I was off in my thoughts there for a second.  Anyway... the point is this, I just have to accept the fact that nothing is going to compare to my experience at MES.  We can't be there forever, eventually someone has to leave the school and have some other experience in pastures not sheltered from the world, so here we go.

On the other hand, I visited the church that is only a few blocks from our house, there is a pre-school associated with the church and they THINK they might have a spot for Meg!  That's God winking at me now... He had this all planned out, you see.  And I stopped in the church to say a prayer on my way out and thank God for His continued comfort and provision.  Can I just say that the church does not have walls.  It's got "slats" for lack of a better visual, so that the wind blows through then entire time. How cool is that?  I think I can get used to the climate, even if I can't get used to being away from my friends and family.

Finally, I will just say that I had dinner with my realtor last night.  He was super nice and bought my dinner, etc.  He was informative and taught me alot about the island and language in a two hour period.  However, I left there feeling like I might be the luckiest person in the world.  His family lives in TN and he has been in HI for 20 years.  I asked him how he could stand being so far from his family for so long and he said, "Well, you get used to it.  It's paradise here.  And I keep up with the homeruns and graduations via the power of internet and digital photos."  He said that at first, there were alot of trips back and forth, but that they became less and less frequent and everyone sort of went on with their lives.    And I realized how lucky and blessed we are that we come from a family where that just wouldn't be enough for any of us.  Internet is great and home is where my kids and Brian are, true, but I have a deeper connection than what electronics can convey.  I think my friends who live far from their families could attest to this.  I know Lindsay and Barb, for example, make a priority of seeing family. And I know they have been doing so for years.  So I guess what I am saying is that I would forego vacations and other trips to be sure that family was part of our kids lives, and it's just a reminder to me that I am blessed to feel that way about the ones I love.  I will miss living around the corner from my niece (Brian's sister and her family) and seeing my niece (my brother's daughter) grow in her first year of life.  I probably haven't even mentioned that my brother and his wife had their first baby last week.  I'm going to miss "doing life" with my sista, Sonja.  I'll miss Friday night Mexican with Mary and Leenda.  I'll miss Gwen's craziness and Kendra's extraordinary way of making time for her friends.  I will miss seeing Marianne and our group with Amie, but I will probably talk to Marianne all the time because, let's face it, I'll still need counseling in paradise! :)  I'll miss Niki and Shawn and foster-dogs.  I'll miss crisp fall weather and football season (even though I hate football.)   I will embrace this experience and try to milk every morsel of growth for myself and my kids from the time we have here.  I refuse to focus on how much we are missing and instead, embrace the things that will make this experience invaluable and educating.  However, I know when it's time to go home, I won't look back.  I'll happily get on that plane and return to my beloved friends and family and love the memories we made all the more because I can share them with people who truly love me!

Zephaniah 3:17
"The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing."

Decisions, Decisions....

I am not good at making decisions.  Did I mention this before?

Anyway, here are the photos, I will let them speak for themselves. I feel like I'm on an episode of house hunters.... "Will she pick the fabulous hillside home with the view, but that is unfurnished.  Or will she pick the open breezy home that is out of her price range?"  :)

This is a view of the pool lounge area in the pricey house. 

One of the bedrooms

My favorite part of this house.  I don't know if you can see in the photo how both sides of the home are completely open. In this photo, I am standing by the pool looking through the house to the front courtyard.  Notice the exposed beam ceiling... ahhh!

Check out this view from the hillside house I looked at.

This is the living area... maybe a little fancy schmancy for a country girl, huh?  I doubt anyone in my bloodline ever lived on marble floors! :)

But doing dishes would certainly be alot more fun if you could look at this while doing it.  This is the kitchen counter view.

On my drive around to different houses yesterday, I passed several spots like this.  Wow!  I doubt I would ever get tired of seeing this on my daily route.

Or this either.... this was a small beach that was protected from the wind and crashing waves by the high rocks all around.  Don't know if you can tell how far down the beach descends, but look how tiny the people were.  

I have a light day today.  Only two houses to see and then, I think it's decision making time.  I have one to see in the morning, but that one is not furnished and I don't know if it will be in my price range once I get the furniture contract, so it looks like today is the day.  It's early yet! 

A quick request, if you wouldn't mind just saying a quick prayer for me, I feel alot of pressure about making the right decision here and I feel guilty about the prices too.  We could never afford these homes on our own and I just want to get something good for my kids but not gouge the company either. 

Aloha

I am sitting in Hawaii right now.  I can't tell you how far I feel from my family.  As I was on the flight and it felt like it was taking FOREVER to get here (six hour flight from Salt Lake City, which was a three hour flight from home.)  It's just difficult knowing that I am so far from everyone I love.

HOWEVER... having said that, Hawaii is GORGEOUS!!!  I'm trying to figure out the island and it's more confusing driving in a strange city when you don't have a navigator.  I'm starting to think I should not have declined the insurance on the car.  Luckily, I have finally gotten my navigation running.

I looked at a house yesterday that was totally amazing!  My husband said he thinks I will "know" it when I see it and this one was totally a house I could see us living in.  I have some photos, but you really can't get a feel for the house from the pictures.  This house had two walls, opposite one another, that completely open to the outside.  A breeze was blowing through the house and I just can't explain the feeling I had when I was in there.  I could literally see my boys running in and out of that courtyard.  I could picture Liam and Connor playing lego on the lanai (which, best I could tell is a fancy word for porch.)  :)

It's very fun seeing the difference in homes and the different type of culture that is here.  This particular house was more than just the house, the community seems really neat.  There were tons of people out walking.  I saw one little girl and her dad walking home from school.  The Y was just around the corner.  There were two parks nearby and it is only 1.5 blocks from the beach.    Wow, it feels alot like Provision to me.  The only down side is that it is the absolute MAXIMUM rent amount that I am allowed to spend.  Brian was really hoping to get something that was not at the top of the rental amount, but we'll just have to see what else I find today that can compare to this one.

Deep breaths in... and out...

and then click your heels together and you'll be in Kansas... oh wait, sorry, wrong destination.

Is it a bad sign that I haven't started packing yet for my trip on Friday?  I mean, I'm going to paradise to pick out a HOUSE and a SCHOOL where my family will call home for the next foreseeable future.  We have no plans beyond Hawaii, so that counts as "foreseeable" future, doesn't it?  Why does my house look like my mom's laundry room the day I arrived home from college for the summer?  Does anyone else have the problem that when there is too much to do, they just do NOTHING?  No, it's only me?  Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that.

Have you seen the trailer for that movie, "The Crazies"?  I haven't seen the movie, but I'm wondering if it might be about my life.  Pretty frequently throughout the day my daughter (3, remember!) holds my phone up and says, "Smile, Mom!"  I think I have at least 57 photos of myself on my phone, doing all sorts of things, none of which are flattering or worth posting to facebook.

And I am spending an inordinate and inappropriate amount of time worrying about how much I am going to miss my dog.  It's simply not natural how much I am thinking about the fact that he will have to sleep outside.  "Outside" is not exactly accurate, he'll be in the "shop" with my dad's dog, Big Al.  The shop is heated in the winter and he will have a bed out there and plenty of food and water and all sorts of fun playing fetch and swimming in the pond and chasing the farm animals around, but still, I have this idea that he's going to be missing his warm cozy spot next to my bed, where he has slept every night for the past four years.  :(

And my family.... and my friends... and my school... and my neighbors... and my bus-stop... and the TEACHERS!!!  Oh the amazing teachers we are leaving behind.  Okay, now I am being downright rude to God because He certainly knows that He's got all this worked out for me already.  And the sweet friend who is moving into my house had a very sweet visual for me about imagining exactly how I would want things to be and then just asking God for it.  So that's what I've been trying to do, dream big, not limit God from lavishing me with all the provision at His disposal.  Surely He has already relieved so many questions for me and I KNOW that He is in this... I KNOW that this was His will for us.  So letting go and trusting... that's the thing.  I'll let you know how I come out with it.  Does anyone else ever feel like they keep being taught the same lesson over and over again?  Am I the only one who doesn't seem to learn and has to keep repeating Faith 101?

Love y'all.... thanks for listening.

You're still out there! :)

Is it ridiculous how in love with all my blog friends I am?  I think it might make me a bit pathetic how excited I was to see that some folks are actually still taking time to stop in, even though I've terribly neglected you all summer.  Now you know why... I've been on this roller coaster ride and it's just consumed my thoughts but I couldn't say anything.

Anyway, here are the details....

I leave on Friday to find a school and house for us.  I'll come home and then the whole family will embark on this adventure (picture the Clampets on a plane) sometime around the week of September 15.  I'm excited and nervous, all at the same time.

We will be living on Oahu.  Brian will work in Honolulu.  The initial contract is signed through January 30, but we may be extended, may not.  I really feel that the Lord has given this to me in bite sized pieces.  I can get my head around five months in paradise.  And once we are there and settled, if it extends to the end of next year, I can deal with that then.

I have really seen God all over this.  We love love love our home and our community, but a new location is something we have talked about many times.  Just never really wanted to CHOOSE to leave this little bubble that we live in.  This is the perfect solution for us because we can go, have this experience, know it's temporary, and still come home again.

As if God just couldn't lavish us enough, He has provided for our home and our kitty in our absence too.   My dear friend's mom is going to stay here and take care of the yard, take care of the cat (who we love despite ourselves) and take care of my friend while we are gone.  (My friend lives across the street, so this feels like God was really caring for her while He was caring for us.)  I have just seen God in every little detail of this, which is how I know it's right.  The only thing I can hardly stand to think about is that my dog, Vince, will not get to go with us.  Hawaii has a quarantine of 120 days to bring a pet on the island, so we would not take him with us.  I love this dog!  He has become so calm and sweet (after three years of puppy-hood) and he is starting to gray around the eyes already.  I know he will change alot while we are gone.  My dad has offered to let him stay on the farm, which is great in alot of respects.  However, my dad does not allow the dogs into the house, EVER.  He will live in my dad's shop with his other dog, Big Al (a black lab/duck retrieving wonder-dog.)  The shop is heated in the winter, there are beds in there for the dogs, and my dad has a pond in the horse pasture that Vince swims in every day when he stays there.  I know, it sounds like Retriever Disney, but for me, thinking of him outside all the time, not curled up to my bed every night, is very sad.

Leaving to search for a house by myself is totally outside my comfort zone.  But Brian and I felt it was important for one of us to be with the kids.  They are handling it pretty well, but Jack has mixed emotions (understandably, he's the one in middle school) so we just didn't want to leave them.  Since I am the one who attends all the IEP meetings, understands the school needs the most, etc., it was more logical for me to go.  This is such a stretch for me.  I will overthink the whole thing, I will waffle, and in the end, I will doubt myself because that's how I make decisions.  And every time there is any issue with our location or the school, I will blame myself for the choice I made.  So even this little step feels like a real gift from God because it's such a stretch for me.  I am going to be pruned and groomed in new ways that I know are needed to deliver me to where I need to be.

I really can't wait to experience a new culture and a new place.  It's initially such a short time that it just feels more like an adventure than a move.  But I will deeply miss my friends.  I know I will depend on this community (bloggers) more than ever because I am such a social person that I don't know that I can live without my gal-pals.  We will be five hours behind TN so even phone conversations might be a challenge.  (I'll have to figure out what time is too late to call anyone and get up extra early to chat with my friends on their special days.)  I think one of the things I am most excited about is that this may be the only time in our lives and the lives of our children when they will be a racial minority.  Where on Earth would God likely call our family that this would happen (believe me, I know that alot of you are thinking Africa, but if God gets my husband to Africa, then you should all know that the end times are upon us.... or I have divorced and married a different man. :)  ha!)  Likewise, it may be the only time in her life when Meg appears to be in the majority! :)  God's sense of humor is pretty funny, huh?

Okay, I think that's all the details I can think of for now.  I am sure there will be 1000 questions I have for those of you who have done this type of thing before and I've already taken advice from Barb (anyone need a good used Sequoia?)  But for now this is where we are.  Whew!

If you're here, you already know there's big news!

I guess you noticed that the header has changed.  And the title to the blog... I know, I know, how many times can someone change the title of a blog?  Work with me here, I'm a little indecisive.

But we are not undecided about what's going on in the next few weeks... buckle your seat belts and start your engines.  We're moving to Hawaii!  :)

Another Month of Craziness

A weekend at the lake with good friends!

Photographing a wedding (my friend Niki, who I have known for 21 years, married her husband, Tim, in a Catholic ceremony, after having married him years ago in California.)

My sweet boy turns 9!!!!!

A visit from our nephew, Harrison!  Look at that cute face! 

Fostering a sweet little punkin' of a pup, named Turnip!

We came to vacation in Florida for three weeks, and Meg learned to swim right after we got here.

Playing on the playground at Destin Commons....

Working a puzzle before bed....

Watching a family of dolphins play below the pier...

And of course, watching out for "tar balls".

And while I'm on the subject of oil, let me just say that the media should be completely ashamed of themselves for what they have done to the people of the gulf coast this summer.  The oil has hit the beach where we are, but there is so little impact for vacationers that I don't really believe there is any reason people would have chosen to stay away this summer if they had known the real state of the beaches.  Tar balls, for the record, are hard black rocks that wash up in the surf.  They are about the size of a golf ball, or smaller, and they are NOT sticky.  There have been a few tar balls in the water (very few, maybe I've seen 15 since I've been here for almost two weeks) that are dark brown and those are a mushier consistency.  If you squeeze them, they do leave a filmy residue on your hands, but if you don't pick them up, there is no issue.  They are few and far between so they are very easily avoided.  The water is turquoise blue (as you can see in the dolphin photo) and the sand is as white as ever.  Don't get me wrong, the small crowds are great for me, there's no waiting at any of the restaurants and the low occupancy is what allowed me to afford coming for three weeks (for the price of one week.)  But still, I know that there are people here who are struggling to pay their rent and keep their businesses open and the media is completely culpable, in my opinion, for what they have done to drive business away from here this summer.

If anyone still reads this blog, I hope you're having a great summer too! 

Why haven't I posted?

Well, here's the proof that I haven't had time....

This month we have:

1.  Hosted a 2nd grade party

2. Cheered on my brother-in-law in the Memphis in May Triathlon

3.  Hosted the seasons soccer trophy ceremony

4.  Raised Painted Lady caterpillars to butterflies and sent them out into the world to do their thing.

  

5.  Spent time at my dad's. (And my mom's too, but I don't have any pictures of  that for some reason.)

6.  Successfully gotten our rental property leased after the last tenants gave notice that they are moving.

7.  Taken post-flood photos of our town

8.  Put together a slide show of our life together for my husband for our anniversary. (This is us at Yosemite in 1997.)

9.  Celebrated our anniversary.  We've put alot of living into the last 13 years!  I can honestly say that I love my husband more and better today than I did the day I married him. (By the way, we didn't color coordinate our outfit, I just now noticed that we were matching.:)

10.  Created some gnarly mohawks! :)

Of course, I should not neglect to tell you that we have also spent a fair amount of time at the pool between stroke and turn clinics, swim practice, meets, and just regular old pool days.  We've been on the boat every chance we get and we've been trying to enjoy the summer, even though it's 100 degrees with a heat index of 110 and the humidity is about 80%.  I'm trying to train for a 10k in September, but it's nearly impossible in this heat because if you aren't running by 6:30 you can just about guarantee you'll die of a heat stroke.  And I hurt my knee, which I'm trying to pretend is not a result of being 40.  Grrrrr!

So, there you have it, our very average, but busy, month.  Love y'all! 

Maybe I came out of retirement too soon?

Obviously, I overestimated the amount of time I was going to have in May when I broke my three-week black-out. But this weekend, my parents have the kids (do you hear angels singing? No?  Me either, all I hear is SILENCE! :)  Anyway, since I don't have the kids, I actually have some time to sit down and goof off on the internet.  And show you what we saw last weekend at my Dad's house.  Steel yourself because you're about to see a dose of gorgeous with a dash of "awwww"....

I don't know this mare's name, but her little colt is SOOOO cute, don't you think?

Oh yeah, definitely a cutie pie!

This is my dad's favorite mare, Dessie.  Her colt is sort of ugly though, it's called "creamella" (I don't know how to spell it) which is apparently not a "desirable" color in a horse (I see why) but this horse is so sweet that it makes me like her ugly colt.  :)

By comparison though, the palomino colt is much prettier.

But Dessie is a pretty horse...

This is the bay mare, she's not too friendly though, very skittish with me in the pasture, so I didn't get much opportunity to photograph her baby, which I think is the prettiest of the colts.  I think my dad said this color is chocolate palomino, which is apparently very desirable?????

And there's our little cowgirl on Leon (Liam's horse.)  Doesn't she look tiny up there?  

She sort of looks like a natural on the farm, don't you think?

Is it Just Me?

Am I the only adult, mom, wife in the world who keeps thinking all these chores are temporary?  I mean, seriously, when I clean up the kitchen, I always think, "I just need to do this today", like some cleaning fairy is going to come in and tidy up tomorrow, the kitchen is going to stop getting messed up, OR I'm going to win the lottery (sort of hard when you don't play it) and have a live in housekeeper like Alice from Brady Bunch.  Where is my house with a live-in housekeeper?  And where are my six kids who can share two bedrooms without being up 'til ten every night?  :)  How DID we get so far away from the 7:30 bedtime anyway?  And who in the heck is wearing ALL THESE CLOTHES I keep washing?  I know it's not me because I only wear about three things in my closet anyway.

Calgon, anyone?

I survived!

My feet are begging me to lay down.  I've taken more Ibuprofen in the last 24 hours than my kidneys can process, but I'm alive and I actually walked 19 miles yesterday with 78 4th grade students and several parents.  I loved it.  It was worth every agonizing second to have my son wanting to walk right next to me the entire time.  I'm SO glad I went.  I'm so glad I did it.  I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.  And honestly, it was fun.  I would do it again (good thing because we will get three more chances to do this before our elementary days are done.)

We left the school at 9:30 yesterday morning and we were at the pick-up point at 5:20 yesterday afternoon. We broke for one hour for lunch and a few other shorter breaks along the way for water, etc. It was 86 degrees here yesterday, but we were in the woods a great deal of the time.  I honestly did not know a woman could smell as bad as I smelled by lunchtime.  And by the time we got back to school, I couldn't even stand the smell of myself.  Let me just tell you now that Secret Pl@tinum is not designed for intense activity! :)

I hope you all have a great weekend.  I will be sitting here with my feet up eating bon-bons if anyone wants to stop by! :)

Funniest Mother's Day Card of all Time

Today, Connor brought home a book that he made me in school.  This is how it goes, try not to laugh!  Connor's addition to the text the teacher gave are in quotations.

If I could give my Mom something special it would be... "my dad".

My Mom looks most beautiful when "she is on a date with my dad."

My favorite thing about my Mom is "looking at her diamond ring." (Which by the way, his DAD gave me!)

My mom makes me laugh when "we sword fight."

Well, at least that last one had nothing to do with Dad.  Geesh!  Is this a Mother's Day book or a Father's Day book anyway?

Who me.... non-committal?

I can't even commit not to commit to anything.  So here I am, breaking my "silence" after only three weeks.  I can't help it, I miss everyone.  I feel like I've not heard from my best buddies in weeks now and I'm just sure that your life is not the same without me! hehehe  Besides, our kids are out of school today because of the storms here over the weekend so Mama needs a little sanity break.

If you have seen the news you know that Tennessee is now pretty much under water, or at least a good portion of it.  Our house is fine, but I have three friends who have lost pretty much everything in the floods.  Two of them did NOT live in a flood plain and therefore had no flood insurance.  It's devastating to see how people have been affected by this and it's such a helpless feeling to sit and watch the water rise and know there is nothing that can be done to stop it.

In the meantime, please just pray for the folks who have lost everything and especially those who lost family members. It is going to be a mess here for quite a while.  And please pray for me that I haven't completely lost my mind.  Our 4th grade students are walking 26 miles this week and I signed up to walk with Jack the first day (which is the 16 miles stretch.)  What was I thinking?

Breaking Free

We just got back from a week at the beach.  Something about being at the beach is always very moving to me.  I think the enormity of the ocean and the fact that the sand stretches on beyond my comprehension?  I don't know, it's just always almost an overwhelming feeling for me to be there and how unbelievably mighty God is and how incredibly blessed we are as a family.

Part of us being at the beach, and away from phones, computers, video games, etc. really made me realize how much "busy" we create in our lives that is unnecessary.  I feel that I am running circles inside chaos sometimes and can't get it all done.  But at the beach, that never seems to be a problem.  So I have decided that I am going to take a little break from the blog for a while.  This is sort of a hard decision because I feel like I am leaving alot of dear friends.  I have made some friends in my real-life through blogging, like Gwen and Katie.  And I have friends in the blog world that I don't want to lose touch with (too many to mention.)  But for right now, I know I have got to find more peace in my home and my schedule and this seems a pretty obvious way to cut down on some distraction.

There was a time when I literally thought in blog posts.  Every thought was a post and every thought was something worth blogging.  But you can't be a blogger without reading other blogs too.  It's almost an addiction.  And whenever I blog, I always go check in on all my friends.  There are several of you that I will still keep up with, but I need to simplify.  This is a busy time of year for the kids (I swear it's worse than December when the school end rolls around.)  Brian is going to be traveling some and that will require more energy from me for the kids and myself.  I will miss him when he's not here.  In less than one month, Brian and I will have been together for 16 years.  It's amazing to me that I have loved this man for almost half my life.  And truthfully, I love him more now than I did the day we got married. I think that's because the day we got married, being "in love" was all about how exciting it all was, how handsome he was, and all the dreams we had together.  Now loving him is so much more than all that.  I've seen him looking not-so-handsome, seen him at his worst both physically and emotionally, and we've collected so many memories and shared so many moments along the way that love is no longer about being "in love" but about a deeper connection.  So, even though we've been together for so long, it's still very hard for me when he travels.  Beyond having the kids to myself, I just don't like us being apart.

Summer is coming up and I know that the kids will be running me in every direction from swim team to whims and fancy and I really want to enjoy this time with them.  I want more time to pray, to think about where God is calling us as a family, and to just play with my family without distraction.  I am also saying good-bye to Facebook, so I hope my blog family doesn't feel "singled out" in this rest period.  I am sure that some day I will be back.  I am pretty sure I will still record alot of things we do with the kids, etc. on this blog.  It's just that I won't be blogging every thought and emotion I have going forward.  So if you were one of those coming just for the cute kid photos, you're likely to still find that here.  It's just that I'll be spending less time thinking about blogging and more time thinking about what really needs to be done around here.

It's very hard for me to say farewell.  So I'll just say, "until next time."  Thanks so much for following along this bumpy road with me.  You've truly truly been a bright spot in my day.  There was a time when I lived for comments in my in-box.  And for those of you who e-mail me directly on occasion, (Barb, Lindsay, Kristine, Nicole, Michelle, Cory, Amanda, etc.) please check in with me.  I'll be checking your blogs from time to time, but I'll miss you al the most!

Jeremiah 6:16
"This is what the Lord says:  'Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.'"

Lousy Louse

Here's the truth of it... lice are gross and terrible and creepy and they ITCH!  I know... because I HAVE THEM!  Yuck!

Meg and Connor also had them.  I think hope we are all bug free now.  But just look what those pesky pests have done to my laundry pile.  Sigh!

Please notice that this is knee high to my 4th grader.  Laundry fairy, where are you when I really need you?  Wasn't I supposed to have a fairy godmother somewhere in the closet?  Well mine SUCKS!

And here's another shot of it, in case you didn't feel sorry enough for me the first time! 

Calgon, take me away!!!!!!

And here is Jack, who was NONE too happy about having to be de-loused, even though the alternative was shaving his head!  (Which Liam and Connor did!) :)

I think I'll save that one for bribery or black-mail later, don't you think?

I told Brian tonight that I have become an expert "de-louser."  He said I could probably put that on my resume, uh, maybe not... but it will come in very handy on future mission trips.  Either way, I'm glad that only 3 out of six of our house ended up with it.  I feel a whole new compassion for people who have to live with lice with no remedy because these buggers really itch! And not only that, but I feel like they are all over my body.  Oh wait, maybe that's just the twitching from looking at all that laundry! :(

I don't know how to title this one....

The following is a fairly long article that was written in a local newspaper this week.  It will take you about 15 minutes to read it, but it's worth it.  It challenges everything we know about "church" today!  It says everything I've been missing in our current "church" congregation.  Where, I want to know, is there a church near me that is throwing it's doors wide, emptying it's coffers, and actually TOUCHING people?  Not reaching them, but actually physically touching them?  I don't know, but if someone in my area knows of a church where the pastor makes less than the designation for the homeless, if the church building doesn't have plasmas everywhere while babies die, then that's where I want to be... I just don't know how to find you!  To be quite honest, I'd happily give up "church" altogether if someone could lead my family in "living" the Scripture on Sunday morning instead of hearing it!

Happy reading!

Unto Us A Child is Lost: A Lenten Tale of Metanoia

Favorite Photo Friday

I'm taking a photography class.  This week's subject/homework was "portraits."  FINALLY... something I like to photograph.    I've spent the last 7 weeks photographing "stuff", which is extremely difficult and uninteresting to me.  These photos have to be "untouched" or "straight out of the camera" so I couldn't do any editing to them, which is very difficult for me because I want colors to pop, edges to blur, etc.  But still, these are my fav photos of the week because they are of my fav people.

This is my neighbor's son.  Don't you love those soulful eyes?  That furrowed brow?  He looks so serious, which belies his goofy, daredevil nature.  I also really love the freckles, which you don't notice so much when you look at him in person. 

If you notice nothing else about this photo, please note how dirty his knees are.  That says it all.

And on the same day, my daughter was clean and looking for the tiny little purple flowers that are coming up in our clover.  This photo is just screaming to be monochrome, but I can't touch it until after class! :(

My precious!

This is the brother of the boy in the first photo.  Isn't he just the yummiest?  Oooh!  And he squeals with this high-pitched delighted squeal that drives his mama insane, but secretly I think it's cute!:)  The focus is way off in this photo.  I zeroed in on his hands instead of his nose and my aperture was too large to capture everything crisply.  See, I KNOW what I'm doing wrong, I just can't seem to correct it. 

I love this photo of Liam.  I think I love it because it so captures who he is.  One of our portrait assignments was to capture the essence of the person we were photographing in one shot.  I had planned to get a photo of my friend Melanie with her daughter, Hope, because I think above all else, Melanie is a defender of children the world would discard and Hope embodies that.  But this photo, which I was just goofing around with, "accidentally" captured the essence of my son.  He looks like this a great portion of the day.  Notice how you can't tell if he is smiling or growling.  Yep, that's him!  Plus, that little cleft in his chin is not at all obvious when you look at him.  I love it! 

This was a shot I took yesterday trying to work on my indoor lighting.  But I love the composition because Connor is so intently focused on his Lego ship, which is pretty much life around our house.

Does anyone else have trouble if they put their photos on "xtra large" in blogger?  Mine get cut off on the right.  Is that because of the format I am using on my blog?  

Sorry, I told you way more than you wanted to know about what was in my brain while looking through the lens, but photography class has been pretty introspective for me! :)

TGIF!

1 Corinthians 10:10

"And do not grumble, as some of them did-and were killed by the destroying angel."

It's Raining, It's Pouring, It's Cold and It's Boring!!!!

"I've had enough of this...I'm calling customer service!"

"Yes, can you tell me who I need to speak to about this weather?"

"I'd like to lodge a complaint!"

"Listen mister, I know the bulbs need water, and the grass needs a drink, yada yada yada..."

"But I really can't do a thing with my hair in all this humidity."

"And my new spring sandals are just not going to be cute covered in mud."

"And I have a dozen new dresses that are gathering dust in my closet.  Plus, these winter clothes are just SOOOOO yesterday!"

"Are ya feelin' me?"  

"Then could you please send some sunshine over ASAP.... and I'll need at least 65 degrees if I hope have any sort of fun.  I'd like to get that immediately or some heads are going to roll around here!"