I wanted to share a little story that made me proud and sad at the same time.  Friday afternoon I was trying to make a phone call and I dialed the wrong number.  An older lady answered sounding like she had just been napping, and I woke her up.  When I hung up I said, "Oh no."  When Lydia asked me why, I told her because I woke up an old lady.  Lydia asked if she was sick, and I told her she might have been.  Lydia says, "Oh Mommy, I want to make her feel better!"  I told her to pray for her.  She starts in, "Dear Jesus, please touch that old lady and make her feel all better.  In Jesus name, Amen."  Then she tells me that I need to call the lady back so we can find out her name, and we need to go to her house tomorrow and we can be her friend.  It reminded me of Sis. Alice.  First of all, she woke people up a lot! LOL  Then, couldn't hear her giving a prayer request for someone she accidently met through a wrong number?  Then wanting to make that person a pie or something to make them feel better.  I thought it was really sweet.  Now, I'm sure Lydia will make me as equally embarassed when she tells someone not to touch her because their hands are messy today at church.  See everyone later.

 

P.S. Added new photo albums for Asheville and the kids.

Just want to write a little about the kids.  I had a journal that I posted to so faithfully with Lydia (on my own computer, not a blog).  Of course that has not happened with the twins.  They are doing well, eating about 2 jars of baby food each per day.  This is huge to me, since Lydia was just eating a thing of yogurt a day at this age.  It seems weird to me that they aren't really saying any words yet.  Seems like Lydia said Mama and Dada at this age and knew what she was saying.  Emily is cruising around the pen.  No steps yet, but she'll walk along holding onto the cage.  Elijah tries to pull himself up and falls down because he's so fat.  I try to get him to stand while I put his PJs on, and he can't seem to hold himself up.  Elijah has a new smile where he totally scrunches up his nose and shows his teeth.  It is adorable!  I took them for pictures yesterday at JC Penny's, and they did great.  We got so many good shots of them together and separate.  They will be one year in just over a month.

 

OMG, Lydia is so hyper tonight!  I don't know what it is.  I had a little girl I used to babysit who was like this all the time.  She would always say, "My Daddy says I'm energetic!"  in like 1.5 seconds.  She did calm down as she got older.  A little while ago Lydia and "Courtney" were racing in the family room.  Somehow Lydia could not out-run this imaginary friend.  Last week Lydia yells from the back of the van, "Mom, Courtney just threw up!"  I told her that Courtney would have to clean it up herself!   Her imagination is crazy.  A few days ago she was rock climbing up the recliners with (of course) Courtney, Phil of the Future, Camryn, Ashton, Ashley, Zachary, Aidan and Vincent.  They were throwing ropes to each other and pulling each other up.  All to escape the vicious tornados.  Oh, and she is "Lava Girl" many times during the day.  Right now she is a doctor working on the Teddy Bear.  I look at her and can't believe she is my little baby.  Wasn't she just born?  How did she get so big?   Well, need to work on the bedtime routine.  God bless.

I will cast all my cares upon You

I lay all of my burdens, down at Your feet

And any time

I don't know

What to do

I will cast all my cares upon You

 

Chelsea used to sing this song when she was about 3.  The first time I heard her, it brought tears to my eyes.  The whole time I was gone last weekend I was thinking about the word "care" and how it can be a noun, as in burden, or a verb, as in tender loving care.  How much I focus on the burden!  All my cares, all my burdens.  The work, the mundane.  But while I was gone and had the perspective that ONLY comes from not being with your children, I kept thinking of how wonderful it is to care for another.  The love I can provide.  The blessing of being neccessary to another person.  I've heard that doctors sometimes tell older people to get a pet to help with depression and feeling useless.  To take care of someone, or 3 someones in my case, gives me purpose.  I feel it when Lydia is so scared of thunder, and calms down in my arms.  And when I give Elijah his bath (his absolute favorite) and he gets this smile on his face that is pure joy.  Emily's comes when she is set free from the pen and I follow her around and let her discover the world.  I provide that for them.  Oh yeah, and when Aaron has clean underwear.   And what about the care that a mother neglects - herself.  You know the expression, "she let herself go."  I don't want that to be my motto.  Self care is just as important as the care I give to my family.  I used to think that sounded so selfish.  But does anyone really want to live with a martyr?  Don't think so.  So in an effort to count my blessings, I am trying to focus on the loving care I can give instead of the cares of this life.  God bless.

We are home!  Actually, we came home a day early on Sunday.  Emily was being a stinker at night, and when we found out we could stay at the B&B one more night, we opted for that instead of two nights at a regular hotel.  It was wonderful!  It was the best time we've ever had at a B&B.  The grounds were beautiful - a waterfall, fish pond, bridge, gorgeous flowers and little rocking chairs, swings, etc. all around.  The house was built in 1902.  The owners do not live on the grounds, and the first night there were no other guests, so Aaron and I had the house to ourselves.  Being that I have Zana's blood in me too, I was scared some of the homeless were going to break in and try to stay with us.  The owner informed us of the high homeless population as we were leaving for dinner, then a cheery, "See you in the morning!"  LOL  We had breakfast in the sunroom alone the first morning, then at the main dining room with another couple the next two mornings. 

 

I have to tell about the breakfasts.  We've stayed at some places where they were trying to fit in all kinds of exotic ingredients into the staples that you could hardley recognize them.  But not this place.  The first morning was hot blueberry bread, baked apple with streusel, almond-crusted french toast with bacon.  The next was a pumpkin spice muffin, honey dew melon with an orange cream sauce, a spinich omlett, and hashbrown potatoes.  The last day was a mocha chocolate chip muffin, baked peaches in a cream sauce, waffels and sausage.  Oh my goodness, everything was wonderful!  Every morning is a pastry course, fruit course and main course.  The house really felt like home by the time we left.  They had movies, books and games.  It was wonderful.

 

The first day we left the kids and drove to Knoxville, had  lunch, then on to Asheville.  When we got there, we fell asleep!  Felt like I was in "Everybody Loves Raymond!"  Then we got up and went to dinner.  Then next day we were going to go to the Biltmore, but the crazy lady at  AAA told us  it would rain the next day, and we better do the Blue Ridge Parkway and Chimney Rock that day.  We took her advice even though I wasn't dressed for hiking trails.  Chimney Rock was cool.  We took an elevator up inside the mountain to the top.  I had sandles on and we all know about me and falling!  At the top we saw Lake Lure in the distance - where they filmed  "Dirty Dancing" if you care about those things.   When we left we drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway for a while, then took this little road to what the crazy AAA lady had told us was a waterfall.  She's never been to Banff!  It was really a bunch of rocks with water sliding over it.  It does look fun for when it is warmer because they let you actually slide on the rocks into natural pool about 8 feet deep.  But it was too cold this weekend. 

 

The next day we went to the Biltmore Estate and the weather was amazing.  We did the house tour, then ate lunch, then took a special tour that took you onto the roof of the mansion.  It was amazing.  The Vanderbilt that owned it was one of the grandsons of the original ones that made the money, so he basically never worked and spent all his time reading and building this house.  They said when he died he had read an average of 2 books every week!  The gardens were  absolutely gorgeous!  Made Cheekwood  look pretty dwarfed.  The conservatory was awesome too.  It is amazing how people lived back then.  All the butlers and servents.   After that we went to Carrabas for dinner, and went to Barnes and Noble.  That is my and Aaron's favorite thing to do when we don't have the kids. 

 

The last day gone we went and looked at the Grove Park Inn.  It was pretty fancy, and there were tons of people there for Mother's Day brunch.  We left Asheville and went again to Knoxville for lunch.  We stopped at Walmart because when we told Lydia we would bring her a present, she asked for Band-Aids!  And an umbrella.  So we got that and came on home.  We stopped at our house to unload our stuff before going to get the kids and all their gear  from Ann's. 

 

We really had such a good time.  I had the best night's sleep while we were gone.  Better than before I was pregnant with the twins.  Aaron and I laughed a lot too.  I came home so refreshed.  However,  Emily is standing looking at me through the pen and squeeling.  I'm so glad Shawn is ready to keep them  again.   We love and appreciate all of our family for making this possible.  Hope this wasn't too long.  Just wanted to remember it myself.  My brain doesn't hold as much as it used to.  We are glad to be home.  We missed the kids a lot.  I kept going on my blog just to look at their pictures!  So glad Emily didn't walk while we were gone.  She is cruising around holding onto things.  I guess Elijah pulled himself up while we were gone, but he has done it since.  He's just too heavy!  Well, I better get to my family now.   God bless!

Do you ever check your own blog to see if you've written anything? LOL I do.  I just go down the line checking each one, and check mine in the process.  It would be really weird if I found something. 

 

Well, Emily gave Christine and Kristyn a huge scare yesterday.  Kristyn was babysitting at their house and Emily started choking.  She just wouldn't stop, so they called 911 and the paramedics came out.  When they were almost there, Emily threw up a bunch of phlegm (sp?) and then was fine.  They called me on my cell phone because the paramedics wanted to take her to the emergency room because she was a minor and her parent had to refuse.  Christine told me she was fine, so I told them not to taker her.  She choked so bad she broke some blood vessels in her face and has little purple dots all around her eyes.  She has been fine ever since.  Little rascal scared them to death!

 

Aaron and I leave Thursday morning until Monday.  The closer it gets the more unsure I am about leaving the kids.  Especially with what happened yesterday.  They are so much work, I am really looking forward to actaully sleeping through the night!  But the thought of not being with them, well, I don't know ...  I think that's why I am procrastinating on booking two more nights at the hotel.  When we get back I need to get back to work.  I have a bunch of extensions out and I don't want to wait until October to make myself crazy. 

 

My mom taught Elijah to wave Bye-Bye yesterday.  We went to Hollywood's for dinner, my mom and I and all the kids.  We were getting up to leave and she waved at him and he copied her.  So cute, we can add that to his list of accomplishments.

 

I was thinking of a seminar I went to when I worked at Transcender and the speaker told us that the most important goal was to ACCOMPLISH MORE!  That mentality creeps into my life so much.  The most exciting thing to Elijah is when I am feeding him and I let him hold the spoon in his teeth after he takes a bite.  That tickles him more than anything.  He loves it.  Emily only cares about getting out of the pen.  Lydia wants to know if the weather says we are having storms or not.  These things are what is important in their world.  I know I am totally rambling.  Time to book that hotel now!  God bless.

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday dear Ann-Rene'

Happy Birthday to You!

 

Today is Ann-Rene's Birthday.  Are we getting to the point where we don't give our ages anymore?   Nah, she's only 32.  That will start with our 40s.  I can't believe we're almost there.  Anyway, Ann-Rene' is one of my very dearest friends.  She's the one I went through my Def Leppard stage with.  So funny now.  I also remember going to drivers ed together, walking to the park, going to the mall, going to see Les Miserables, listening to music for hours, etc. etc.  We had so much fun!  She is my forever friend.  I miss her so much, hey I'm going to say it like it is, I wish she were here instead of California.  But I am so happy she has Robert to take care of her and her Maddie.  I pray she has a very Happy Birthday and a blessed year ahead!

I am so excited.  Lydia drew me a picture and it is the first time you can actually tell what it is!  It is a face with two eyes and a mouth.  She drew two of them, and one has teeth.  I know that's silly, but it excited me so much.  I remember my first semester of college at Mt. Sac I took a class in Child Development.  I remember learning about children's cognitive development and one of the milestones being when they start to draw pictures that make sense.  Anyway, Emily is pulling herself up on the walls of the pen.  I went into to get her up from her nap and she was standing up in the crib just grinning at me.  Elijah has learned to blow bubbles with his tongue.  LOL  Poor Elijah.  Emily is a wiry one, and is probably going to be hard to keep up with.  But he can always sit on her.  He was trying his hardest to bite her on her bottom today in the pen and it was cracking her up.  She was laughing so hard.  Oh, and while I was reading this morning, Lydia asked me if Jesus and God have a toilet.  I told her no, and she said they better get one!  That's all of the brilliance in my home today!

I'm trying to pin down these thoughts.  They've been rolling around my mind for a couple of weeks now, and I know they aren't having their full impact.  We have the second Casting Crows CD, "Lifesong".  One line from one song has been resounding in my mind.  It is from the song about the power of Christ being in me.  It's at the end of the last verse and says, "I'd give my last breath for Your glory."  It is like a line from their first CD that says, "What if the life that we pursue, came from a hunger for the truth."  Those two lines just leap out at me every time I hear them.  They speak to me about motivation.  What if every action I made in a day came from my hunger for truth.  And not just intellectual comprehension, but like Aaron was talking about a while back, truth that becomes understanding by weaving it into your life.  Every time something frustrates me, can I respond like Jesus - the Way, the Truth and Life?  Every time I have a decision to make, can it be founded on principles that I know will produce life?  Not just endless hours of Bible study to know all the doctrines inside and out.  But Truth in every meditation of my mind.  I love the word "pursue" also.  I am to have a purpose to my life.  I didn't just drift through school, I set my mind and worked hard to achieve something.  Not that I think we can do this by determination at all, it is the power of Christ in me both to will and to do his good pleasure.  But I am called to pursue Truth.  Well, the second CD's line expanded this thought.  What is my motivation.  Would I give my last breath for His glory?  Of course I hope I would, but do I give my first breath to His glory?  When I wake up in the morning, is His will and His glory on my mind?  What a different way to approach the day.  Doing all things unto Christ.  If there is going to be any good thing in my life, it is not going to be because I went after anything for myself.  Even the fruits of the spirit.  I want to joy, peace, love, longsuffering, etc., but do I want these just so my life will be more comfortable?  My real motivation needs to be for HIS glory, not my comfort.  That His truth would be revealed.  Titus 2:5 sticks with me too, "that the word of God be not blasphemed."  I know I've written about these things before.  I think they are so subtle in my heart.  What is my motive?  Even for choosing this life.  I have testified that I didn't want to serve God just because my parents wanted me to.  I saw serving God as the easy way out because that was what was expected of me.  I don't want to just float along.  I want to live with purpose.  I want my life to count for something.  I know that is an innate desire in all human beings.  I think God gave so many of those feelings in all people, things from community to a desire to worship something, and like everything they can be used to His glory or they get tainted by humanity's sin.  I guess that's what I am getting at.  Things can look the same on the outside.  I can take care of my kids, husband and home and can be full of bitterness or pride, or I can do the same thing from a heart devoted to the Lord and be full of those fruits.  Lord, don't let me deceive myself.  Let every act and intent be motivated by bringing You glory.  In the deepest part of me, let my motive and my pursuit be Your truth.