I find it really funny that one of my sisters, Judy, could have been the vice-presidential nominee. After all, she’s 44 (almost), has 5 kids, and is the vice-president of her PTA! I think her downfall is that she wasn’t in any beauty pageants…
Isn’t it ironic… August 29, 2008
I normally try to steer clear from politics on here for obvious (or maybe not) reasons… but come on, I have to mention this. This isn’t actually about politics at all. This is about people that make me embarrassed to call myself a Christian. This is about people who are the reason so many people run in the opposite direction from God. This is probably what angers me the most out of anything ever: when “Christians” use God to further their agenda and call it “Biblical.”
So what am I talking about? This week Focus on the Family posted a video on their website (and have since pulled it, but if you google, you will find it!) in which they asked Christians to pray for an
“abundant rain, torrential rain … flood-advisory rain.” He adds, “I’m talking about umbrella-ain’t-gonna-help-you rain … swamp-the-intersections rain.”
to occur precisely at a certain time, over a certain stadium, in a certain mile-high city, when a certain presidential nominee would be speaking. They were asking you and me to pray for a rain of “Biblical proportions” that would flood people out of their seats and make it impossible for media to televise… just because they don’t agree with what he (the nominee) has to say or what he believes in.
So where’s the irony? I don’t know if you are aware of the forecast, but the headlines this morning were saying that the GOP Convention might have to be delayed… because of tropical storm Gustav… hmm…
…don’t you think?
306 August 25, 2008
That’s the number of pounds of food that my kids collected and delivered to the Central Virginia Food Bank today!!
306 pounds!
That is equal to 306 meals… or feeding 306 people!
It’s amazing to me, in a really sad way, how often I think that there isn’t anything I can do to help. I’m just one person. The need is so great. What can measly ole me do?
But look at what my kids taught me! A 9, 7 and 4 year old can do lots!!!
Can I brag for just a minute, please? August 23, 2008
The Virginia Food Bank has been running really low on food all summer. It has been on the news a good deal lately and this week they were really trying to make a push for donations.
So this week my two oldest kiddos decided to do a neighborhood food drive. They made a big sign and some flyers that they handed out yesterday around the neighborhood and today they set up a table in the yard.
You should see the amount of food that is coming in!
The kids have had a great time accepting the donations and the neighbors have seemed to really appreciate their efforts! I’ll come back with a guestimated total of food… it just keeps coming!
They really are pretty cool kids!!
Introducing “Sweet Lu” August 22, 2008
Not every kid in the world is cool enough to have their own blog, but our sweetie girl Lucy is!!
Here it is people! All the happenings in this chick’s new life!
What were we thinking?!! August 21, 2008
So, for Trey’s birthday, he decided he wanted to invite his two closest friends to go see the Star Wars “Clone Wars” movie and then have a sleepover. That was all fine and good with us. We have a rule that if you want a sleepover party, you have to forfeit inviting a lot of people. One of the reasons we really like them choosing this (but we DO NOT tell them this) is that they end up with fewer presents. I know that sounds like a weird thought, but seriously… they don’t need all of the gifts. It gets ridiculous after awhile when they get so many. The other reason is obvious: try getting 8 and 9 year old boys to go to sleep and you, too, will only want to deal with a few of them.
Thankfully Brent took the boys to the movie. I have yet to see any Star Wars anything all the way through, and I’d really like to keep it that way! By the time they returned to our house for pizza, they were all flying sky high from the Coke that “cool dad” decided to give them. After much playing inside and out, I decided that “cool dad” could then try to get them settled down! He did this with as much success as one could expect… every time he tried. So we thought they had finally settled down sometime after 11pm, only to discover at midnight when we were going to bed that two of them, my son being one, were still awake. After I threatened them sufficiently, I thought they were off to dreamland.
Until 4am… yes. 4am. I awoke, not to my baby, but to some thumps coming from the third floor where they were to be sound asleep. As I got closer to the stairs I could hear all three of them not whispering, but talking in normal voices and all. When I got to the top of the stairs, what do you suppose I found the three of them doing?! Fighting each other with their light sabers. Yep.
The moral of the story (as if there’s only one) is: don’t let 8 or 9 year old boys sleep with light sabers.
Or something like that…
And the birthdays continue… August 19, 2008
The other half of our family’s birthdays all occur within the next month, and that doesn’t count both grandfathers, a couple of cousins, and both sets of grandparents’ anniversaries!
However, today belongs to our oldest: Trey! It is so hard to believe that he is NINE today! Where, oh where, has the time gone? As he likes to remind me, he is the son that I always wanted. That isn’t just because I thought I would have all boys (or maybe hoped is the more accurate term here- I still have no clue what to do with all of these girls!), but because we had to pray for Trey for a couple of years. Pregnancy did not come as easily as we would have thought or hoped. There were many months of sadness and disappointment, many months of watching (what seemed like) everyone around me getting pregnant (sometimes more than once), many months of doctor’s appointments and a few hormone crazed months thrown in there from the fertility drugs just for good measure.
It was a couple of years into all of this that I realized that I trusted that I would get pregnant, I was just pissed that it wasn’t on my timeline. It wasn’t until I watched some sweet and dear friends to me go through horrible life changes that were beyond their control that I realized how selfish I was being. It didn’t take away the desire to have a child, but it took away the anger and bitterness about it not being my way. And then I got pregnant! It’s “funny” how it always seems to be that way…
So today, nine years after my life changed completely, we celebrate Trey! He is the calm of our family. He has a sensitive and giving heart beyond his years. He is, much to his dismay, an incredible older brother to his three sisters. And, of course, he’s still all boy…
Under Pressure August 17, 2008
I love Fall and the start of school. Contrary to what you may be thinking, it’s not because that means my kids go back to school (although that has it’s benefits!). I’ve always loved it. There is the anticipation of something new starting. There is a chance to feel organized and on top of things (which is not how the rest of my year feels!). As much as I’m ready for a lack of a schedule when summer comes, I’m just as ready to get back into a schedule when fall comes. It just always feels more like the start of a new year, more than January 1st of any year.
This year, though, I haven’t been quite ready for it. It’s not that I don’t want it to come… I just don’t want it to come so soon. I have been having such a fun summer with my kids. I’m not ready for them all to go about their days away from me. I’m certainly not ready for the early mornings. But here’s the thing I’m really not ready for:
The pressure.
As school approaches, the moms around me have already started talking about what their kids are getting involved in with sports, academics, clubs, etc. It’s crazy how much my kids’ peers are involved in and how much their parents push them all the while saying, “It’s ’so and so’s’ choice. They really want to do it.” Yeah, I suppose so if it’s between that and oh, I don’t know, Chinese water torture.
I immediately go into defensive mode internally. I start to think about whether or not my kids are “good enough” and “smart enough” and whether or not “doggone it, people like them.”
Ughh!!!!
But, the thing we have going for us (and I’m pretty sure most wouldn’t see this as a positive), is that we just can’t afford to keep up with the Jones. I’d like to think that if I did have the money I still wouldn’t put my kids in all kinds of things and that I wouldn’t succumb to the pressure, but I don’t know. The good news is that I really don’t have to worry about it. I can feel whatever I choose to let myself feel inwardly, but I can’t change much of what is happening outwardly… and for that, I’m grateful. My kids will hopefully get to just be kids a little while longer.
Who needs sleep? August 16, 2008
Apparently not Tessa. Between her and the Olympics, apparently I don’t need any either!
I haven’t been writing anything this week, but I’ve been watching a ton! I don’t remember being this excited about the Olympics in a long time. I’m always excited that they’re coming, but then the real thing, more times than not, disappoints. Not this time! Holy freakin’ cow!! Two words: Michael Phelps!
Here are a few quotes heard in my house this week.
“Lemme guess… China’s winning.” -Trey
“They’re not naked. They’re just mostly naked.” -Karis, responding to her friend’s claim that the male swimmers are naked. (I’ll refrain from disclosing the rest of this conversation… it just went downhill fast.)
“GO MICHAEL PHELPS! GO MICHAEL PHELPS!” -Avery, during the women’s swim prelims
“It must be really hot where they’re running.” -Trey, seeing the female track runners and their attire… or lack of…
There’s nothing like old friends… August 11, 2008
We spent the weekend with some of our favorite people in the world! There are some people that are friends for life, and our friends Jim and Amy are exactly that. Friendships that began our freshman year of college have managed to withstand the test of time (17 years), distance (PA to VA), bad at keeping in touch members (me), and countless heartbreaks and celebrations.
These are the friends that no matter how long it has been since you’ve seen each other or even spoken, the moment you do it’s like you’ve never been apart. These are the friends that you can be yourself with and not fear being judged, only loved. These are the friends you look to for wisdom and advice because you trust them completely. These are the friends who you just assume will always be there for you… because they always have been. These are the friends that you desperately want your kids to know because they mean so much not only in your life, but in making who you have become.
There was something really amazing about watching our kids all together this weekend. They greeted each other with such excitement and familiarity when we arrived, even though it had been four years since they had seen each other. They never left each others’ sides while we were there. They ran and played and whispered and laughed together. They were the miniature versions of their parents.
There were so many moments that I watched the girls together and remembered back to the college days and how Amy and I probably looked and acted much like these two sweet seven year olds were with each other… all lovey and goofy!
