Everything At Once

This song says it perfectly!  Thank you, Lenka, for putting into song what is in my heart!!!  Thank you, Angeline, for giving amazing visuals to this song;-)

. . .a photographer. . .

This is of course, a wild and highly unlikely dream because I don't like staged pictures. I like natural, normal, fun, unique pictures. So, my little point and shoot camera comes with us a lot and we have fun taking pictures. Love the camera on my phone too. . .it is why this post is being written. The other night Eddy and I were lying on the bed chatting before bedtime and Heidi came and laid down right next to us. The moment was so, so cute that I grabbed my phone to snap a picture. . .and thus began what must be the WoRsT photo shoot ever! I'll show you the evidence. . .

I told you!  None of these pictures will ever show up in a frame on our walls, but we had so much fun and laughed so hard my face hurt! 

These final two pictures are my absolute favorites.  Heidi and Eddy are the best of friends.  I just love these two little arms hugging each other so tightly!  Also love the fact that our kitty stayed right there on the bed the whole crazy time.  She was my baby way before marriage and kids came along and she used to hide when any visitors came over, but through the loving patience of all the kids, Sarah and Bobbiann included, she has come to the point where she can snooze away no matter what's going on around her.

. . .caught up!

on blogging, that is!  Just check in here once in a while, haven't touched the family blog or reading blog in months. . . maybe going on a year now.  It all seems overwhelming sometimes.  Yet, there is plenty of time to "check things out".  Code for "waste time".  Ha, ha, ha.

So with my Panera time today, I am going to type fast and get caught up.  I want to wait and do everything just right and when that can't happen end up doing nothing instead.  Did you know that is a fault of a perfectionist?  So if you know someone who is seems to be a disorganized mess, they may just be a frustrated perfectionist--waiting for that perfect time to get the job done perfectly.  Because it is better to do nothing than to do something part way or with a lick & a promise.  I know, sounds crazy, but it's true!

summer 2001

 Family blog started with this group:  John, Bobbiann, Sarah, and me. . .10 years ago now--wow!


lamb cupcakes

We added 2 more along the way and just celebrated the littlest's 2nd birthday on Saturday!


Add caption

and I started the reading blog when Eddy and I started devouring books together when he was about 2. 

Time to get on the ball and stay caught up with these things.  Bobbiann is now 20 and living hours away--we hardly ever see her.  Sarah just turned 18 and is loving all the independence and freedom that magic number brings.  These next few years are going to fly by just as fast and I want to remember them.  I am determined to find a way to make this work even without internet at home.  You know the saying. . .where there's a will, there's a way. . .

What are you working on this year?

. . .merry and bright. . .



Heidi 2011

 Well, Merry Christmas and most likely a Happy New Year too!  I hope that with all the busy-ness of the season we all have managed to keep our focus on the true reason for the Christian's Christmas.  I say Christian's Christmas because last night my mom was telling us that she had heard the history behind the celebration of "Christmas" which started as a celebration of winter solstice.  There were other facts about the Germans and their "yule" time celebration, and the Stonehenge creations  and how their seats are in the shadows every winter solstice, and many others that my tired, sleep deprived mind couldn't hold on to during our drive to look at Christmas lights.  But the fact that the "church" incorporated the celebration of Christ's birth into the traditions of the day in order to keep the people in the church and happy came through clearly.

Eddy 2011

In thinking about it all though, it doesn't really matter to me.  Of course we don't know the exact day--our modern day calendar didn't even exist at the birth of Christ and our calendar is different from the Jewish calendar.  What is important is that we do have a time to celebrate the birth of Christ and a time to teach our children about this miraculous event that God in His lovingkindness allowed to happen so that we who live today could be saved by faith through the blood of Jesus Christ.  And that we can use this time to look forward to the day when we will be in Heaven with our Lord.  And to remember that the things of this earth are only temporary and that we have so much more to look forward to in Heaven.  

Sarah 2011

I'm so looking forward to celebrating Christmas with our family and I'm even glad that Christmas is on a Sunday this year.  Maybe my thoughts will turn a little more toward things that matter for eternity and a little less toward the presents under the tree. . . .not sure if the almost 2 year old will have any such thoughts though. . .ha, ha, ha!

**typing at Les Schwab today while they align our car, in case you're wondering;-)

a scrapper!!!!!

**no pic 'cause blogger is messin' me up today. . .

You'll never believe what I finished today. . .Eddy's baby book and calendar. . .and he's only 8 1/2. . .whoo-hooo!!!!!!  We had a Ladies' Craft Day at church and I packed up the kitchen and moved in and took over a corner of the room and buckled down and got it done!  Of course my main purpose was to get Heidi's baby book started--she's 21 months old--and that happened too.  Poor girl.  She never even had an official picture taken until she was 10 months old and practically all of her pics were on my computer which had a melt down and everything was lost--yes, I cried!  I am so, so, so thankful for blogs and facebook which have an assortment of pictures that I can retrieve when the time comes to print them for her baby books and calendar.  My only problem is that I can't remember the first smile, or giggle, or tooth, or food but we will add in our own blurbs because she is a firecracker and something is always going on with her--except when she is sleeping which is right now.

Yes, we are sitting outside Starbucks again and I am hurridly typing with a mostly broken left middle finger--have you ever thought about how much you use that one finger?  Way much more than is comfortable but it's too slow to type one handed and I wanted to pop in here even for just a minute. . .or twelve;-)

Have you been to the pumpkin patch yet?  We haven't. . .maybe tomorrow. . .

. . .reasonably sweet!

We just finished reading this book for our Ladies' Bible Study for church.  The book was so refreshing and so convicting!  Each week Joanna Weaver, the author, managed to say something that I exactly needed to hear and she said it in such a way. . . .   She has a way of saying things that hit right at the heart, bypassing all reason and previous ways of thinking.  She made me look at myself in a whole new light.  I am a perfectionist and she made me realize that God doesn't want a perfect me--I'm working on being perfect/mature/complete but while I'm here on earth it is a process of becoming perfect. . .I will fail. . .I will take two steps forward and one step back. . .I will keep falling into the same sinful habits. . .

"Realizing that God is more interested in the process than the product has transformed my walk with Christ because it allows me to concentrate on obedience, not perfection.  The goal of perfection only points out how far I have to go, but obedience marks how far I have already come.  Perfection frustrates and torments.  Obedience releases and makes whole.

"I can't become everything I ought to be overnight.  But I can proceed step by step if I'm obedient to what God asks of me today."

Of course, it all hinges on our heart attitude and desires. . .am I truly trying to please God and do what is right or am I just living day by day doing my best to get by, frustrated when I sin or slip up on something but not really convicted and saddened and move on and forget about what God has shown me--like that man who sees his face in a mirror and walks away, forgetting what he saw there or not even truly seeing what was staring him in the face.  I don't want to be that man. . .or that woman. . .I want to be changing little by little every day so that others will see Christ through me.

The author Joanna Weaver is extremely well read and includes lots of little extra things in her book to help explain or to illustrate what she has been talking about.  The ladies in my group and I found the following prayer to be hilariously true:

"Lord, you know better than I know myself that I am growing older and will someday be old.  Keep me from getting talkative, particularly from the fatal habit of thinking that I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.

"Release me from craving to straighten out everybody's affairs.  Make me thoughtful, but not moody; helpful, but not bossy.  With my vast store of wisdom it seems a pity not to use it all, but you know, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end.  Keep my mind from the recital of endless details--give me wings to come to the point.

"I ask for grace enough to listen to the tales of others' pains.  Seal my lips on my own aches and pains--they are increasing, and my love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by.  Help me to endure them with patience.

"I dare not ask for improved memory, but for growing humility and a lessening cocksureness when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others.  Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally it is possible that I may be mistaken.

"Keep me reasonably sweet.  I do not want to be a saint--some of them are so hard to live with--but a sour old woman is one of the crowning works of the devil.

"Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places, and talents in unexpected people.  And give me, O Lord, the grace to tell them so."

--Written by an anonymous seventeenth-century nun

It mostly cracks me up that it was a nun saying all this. . .guess I have this expectation that a nun would be mostly. . .like a saint!

--a few days later--
I was typing at Starbucks while my little helper was taking a nap but before I could finish things up my computer battery died.  I am now back outside Starbucks typing again while waiting for big sister to get out of her youth group meeting.  I know, I'm really suffering here (ha, ha, ha) but I do feel compelled to purchase a cup of coffee (Pumpkin Spice Latte tonight) even when I sit outside the store so that if ever questioned by the proper authorities about abusing the Wi-Fi offered, all will be cope-a-stetic.  So tonight little helper is awake and since we are sitting for a while I let her loose--in the car--oh my!

All that to say, I forgot my book at home and cannot double check the above quotes to make sure they are perfectly accurate.  I proofread and will spellcheck but any other mistakes are totally mine and I take full responsibility;-)

cool & cozy!!!!!!!!

I love, LOVE, L o V e fall!!!!!!!!!!  We took hubby & Eddy in to school today because Eddy has a book club meeting this afternoon and my little helper was asleep so I came to Starbucks for a Pumpkin Spice Latte and some computer time so she could sleep and not have to be awakened again--thoughtful of me, huh? 

Anyway, I was checking in on some of my favorite blogs and saw this button and couldn't wait to change my blog to FALL colors!  Helper is awake now so I'd better pop out to find a new FALL look!!!!!


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Happy FaLL days to you!