Our week

Thanks to all your comments, emails, and phone calls! I feel loved! This past week has been crazy- the story of my life! I love keeping busy with the kids since it puts us outside having fun making all sorts of memories!

Monday- we stayed home until 4:00! HUGE for me! I cleaned, did loads of laundry and started packing for our annual vacation to Michigan. For those of you who do not know, Archie and I have been going to a Christian conference center in Muskegon, Michigan for the past 10 years with friends and family. The idea of "vacation" has changed since we have had kids, but it is WONDERFUL to have the time together as a family for the WHOLE week! I'll tell you more about this wonderful place when we get back next week. If you are interested, here is their website: http://maranatha.gospelcom.net/

Tuesday- went to a park and McDonalds with a very dear friend of mine- Kendra. Those of you who know her, already love her. She has been one of my most dearest friends since I met her in 1994 and the one that taught me what it means to have a relationship with God! We were so different back then! It was wonderful to have her 3 children and my 3 children play together. Our lives have changed SO much since we met and we don't get together too often, but we can always pick up where we left off! Here are some pictures of our children together at the park.


Wednesday- went to the Morton Arboretum and instead of having 3 children, I thought that I would venture out and bring 4- a little crazy, but what is life without any "crazy"- right? I met up with another dear friend that I have only seen once this summer- we had a lot of fun being outside together and catching up while we were watching our kids. The Morton Arboretum is a beautiful place for those of you that have not been there- and KID friendly!

Thursday- went to my "old" school and packed up my WHOLE classroom in my Ford Explorer. I didn't realize how much STUFF and books that I had. My car was packed to the brim. It's official, I work someplace else. As I was packing I reminisced about the past 5 years and all the people that I have met. It's bittersweet leaving, but it's the best for my family- and I'll be working with my older sis. Here's a picture of me at my mom's house going through my books after I unpacked all of my stuff. After going through her books in her house and my books from school, we ended up filling 5 or 6 boxes and bags to give away. It feels SO good to clean and organize- I don't know why, but I thrive on this. Since I have been helping my mom reorganize her house, I come home and start reorganizing and pitching things in my own home. This week, I cleaned out the hall closet at our house and put things away in storage. This was the last item on my list that I wanted to get done this summer so I am very happy about that.

Friday (today)- went to the pool. Here is my big boy Caleb eating a sucker with his sunglasses on. My little man!

These other things happened sometime this week, but I can't remember what day-
Christian was so hungry at Trader Joe's, that he started to eat the bananas that were in the cart. I am glad that I had the camera!

Madison lost her SECOND tooth this week- after eating a Trader Joe's banana . . . in the car in the Trader Joe's parking lot. Isn't life fun? After giving her some wetwipes to wipe off the blood everything was fine. I am glad that Madison didn't swallow her tooth!

oh- and after picking up Christian from the childcare center at the Lifetime pool today-this is what he was wearing. Where did his white socks go? Weird!

We are leaving for vacation tomorrow morning and we are ALL so excited. Archie and I will actually be leaving early from vacation to go to a wedding that I am in so my sister and mom will be watching the kids! Thank you God for family- and thanks Laura and Mom!

I'll post some fun pictures from our vacation and me in my new sassy dress for the wedding! Katy, the bride, let all of us bridesmaids choose our own dresses at the White and Black Market. They all had to be black and short- so I chose a fun black strapless dress! Archie and I are looking forward to having a "mini-vacation" with NO kids after our "vacation" with kids. How different it will be!

Oh- and one more! We had Katy's bachelorette (sp?)party last weekend in the city- and had a wonderful time! The bride, Katy, is standing next to me. Here we all are after our fun night in the city outside of our hotel. The other bridesmaid Nancy, couldn't be with us, since she was enjoying a vacation in California. We missed her, but still enjoyed our time celebrating with the bride!

Anyone there?

I am finally back to blogging and am wondering if there is anyone there. Let me know who is reading this by leaving me a comment. Also, what do you all think about my new design- I got bored with the old one.

Eavesdropping

There are MANY mornings that Archie leaves in the morning before I even get up- surprising, huh? On these days the kids and I don't see him until he gets home in the evening, so we are ALWAYS very excited for him to come home. There are also days that he has appointments in the evenings so the kids have to wait until the next evening to see their daddy. Well, today was one of those days that we didn't see him in the a.m. or p.m.

After cleaning and organizing some things we were off to the Good Will store and I decided to call Archie to see how his day was. Since he wasn't on site he was able to talk. I love when he is not on site. We talked for a little while and as always it was good to hear his voice. Then came Madison' turn. This little girl is SO talkative and LOVES her Daddy. Now, if you ever see Madison at church or at school, you would think that she was a shy little thing- but I am telling you that when she is in her own element- she is NOT shy at all.

I was eavesdropping on her conversation with her Daddy- and it brought little tears of joy to my heart and eyes. It was so cute to hear her tell him about all the things that we did today- swimming lessons, our trip to the Good Will store and how it was Mommy's idea and not hers to give things away- and then she stopped talking about her day and became fixated on this dog outside. What I heard her telling Archie about this dog was that he was black and had no leash on. Maybe the dog was running away because he was sad, and then "mommy does not like dogs." How did I get thrown into this conversation?

Nothing really was funny or crazy about her conversation with Archie- it was sweet and simple. But it made me think about how grown up my little girl is becoming- and I am in awe. In awe of her beauty, in awe of how she cares for her brothers, in awe of the questions that she has about life, in awe of all she is learning and has learned, in awe of her love and compassion for people, in awe of who God is molding her into. In awe that God has made a family out of Archie and I and has blessed us with this beautiful little girl- His precious child.

I wonder how I will feel when I eavesdrop on her when she is a teenager?

I never got out of my PJs!

My sisters and I had a sleep over with our friend Jenny on Friday night in my home! Jenny will be moving in the next few weeks so we wanted to do something fun together that also included my kids since Jenny is not just a friend but is also Aunt Jenny. When Jenny moved back up here from Kentucky 2 years ago, we ended up hanging out SO late that she often slept over and then we just hung out with the kids the next day. We thought that we should do that again.

We had such a fun time together. We sang to the boys when we put them to sleep and we ended up singing church and camp songs to Madison when she went to sleep too. It will be a night that I will always remember. There was a lot of food and chatting involved and we even ended up getting some sleep.

On Saturday we actually slept in a little bit, and even got to watch 2 movies together. Of course, when 3 children are involved and you have to feed them and care for them, a movie ends up becoming 3 times as long as it should be- but we enjoyed our time together AND got to watch 2 movies. That was a HUGE treat for me!

At 4:00 p.m. Madison was shocked that she was still in her jammies so she decided that she NEEDED to get dressed. I was very content in my jammies that I never got out of them that day. I loved it. Even when we went outside and had a fire and played bags, I stayed comfy in my jammies. That is RARE for me and ended up being a special treat.

Today- Sunday we enjoyed family time hanging out and going to the pool. We all took naps and enjoyed a low key Sunday. It was a WONDERFUL weekend!

I kept my promise- and on the SAME day!

This will not be morbid or even at all thought provoking- it will just be - PROMISE!

First of all, I did NOT get the reading improvement position that I told you all about FOREVER ago. For the first hour after I found out, I cried and was disappointed, but that went away fairly fast. Thank you God. I decided that I needed to focus on my other 2 job opportunities and not dwell on what I didn't have. So, I will be job sharing at a new school with a really fun girl teaching Reading once again. My sister teaches at this school so it will be fun to work with her too, like I have worked with my mom in the past. I am excited to still be able to stay at home with the kids more than I would if I were working full time.

Gosh, so what else has happened since I last blogged? Madison lost her 1st tooth, we have had vacation Bible school, swimming lessons, soccer lessons, a wedding, spent time with family and friends, MANY things. I had the amazing opportunity to teach vacation bible school to Madison at the church that I grew up in and attended vacation bible school in. I was so grateful that I was able to give a little back to the church- even though I do not attend it anymore- since the people gave SO much to me years ago.

The kids and I are truly enjoying our summer. I have never had so much fun- and have been so busy. These BOYS keep me on my TOES! It's so fun to watch them learn and play with one another. If any of you need to be entertained for any amount of time- come on over- the boys are COMPLETELY entertaining. They love to laugh, dance, scream, chase, climb, try to ride their big sister's bike, swim, play with the hose, RUN. . . you name it, they LOVE it. Well, they definitely dislike their faces and hands being cleaned after a meal.

Here are some pics for you to enjoy- all random and fun!

Love much, hold loosely

In these past 2 weeks death has been on my mind. Not in a morbid way, but I know 2 families that have dealt with loss these past 2 weeks. Very sad.

The first one is a family that I did not know well at all, but belonged to my church. They moved away a month or so ago but the ties that they have here are very strong. They lost their 4 year old daughter to meningitis. In one day, their daughter had something that seemed like a flu and by the next morning, she was gone. She died in her sleep. Let me tell you that this family is SO faithful and truly believes that God is in complete control of all of their lives. They are definitely sad and mourning the loss of their daughter, but the strength and faith that they have had through this very difficult time is SO encouraging.

The second person that died, died from a 10 month battle of pancreatic cancer. She was a friend of my mom's and a coworker of mine. She was at my bridal and baby showers and attended our wedding. I had the opportunity to work with her when I transferred schools before she retired. She even brought me coffee and a pastry some mornings to school. She was an amazingly strong woman that lost her husband 5 years ago to cancer and just remarried 2 years ago to start a new chapter of her life. As she is going to be buried today, I think about how this family is feeling- how it feels to bury your spouse, your mother, your friend. . . to never see her again or feel a warm loving embrace.

I have never truly dealt with grief on an ongoing basis. I have lost all my grandparents- but it was different for me from what these 2 families are going through. I woke up this morning unable to sleep and started to pray for them. I prayed especially for the days to come as they have to learn how to cope and live without the one they love.

All of this has reminded me that the way that we view God determines HOW we live our lives. What do we truly think about God? Do we think He is he a loving, kind and merciful father or a lawgiver that wants us to follow rules? How do we deal with things in our lives- from stubbing our toe. . . to the way we respond to death? It all goes back to how we view God.

This brings me back to my title, "love much, hold loosely." I believe that God wants us to love much, but to hold on loosely to those that we love since they are not truly ours- but God's- we are just loaning them for a period of time. I remember this when I tiptoe into my children's rooms while they are sleeping to gaze at them and quietly whisper that they are God's beloved child- just like me.

For those of you that were just looking for pictures and my updates- thanks for letting me ramble on about something that is dear to my heart. I PROMISE that pictures and info. will be coming soon!