One week...

We made it a week! Everyone is still accounted for and the bills have been payed on time. Paul is working a lot, but says he is having fun. In his words it's an "experience." Everytime I talk to him I always ask what he ate that day just to see if he is going out of his food comfort zone at all. Yesterday I asked him what was for dinner and he said "I don't know...but it was good!" That made me laugh!
Lauren and I are hanging in there. Trying to keep ourselves busy. Yesterday she came down with strep throat. Our weekend plans have been rescheduled and we are having a quiet weekend at home.

Here we go...

I did it. I said goodbye to my husband and put him on a plane to Europe.
 Lauren handled things really well up until she wanted to look out the window at the planes. We had a discussion about how people got on the plane and how big the seats were, ect....then it happened. Big alligator tears that turned into one of those hiccuping, whole body sobs. I am so glad that Paul was past security at that point and couldn't hear or see her. He would have had a break down. The crying lasted for an hour! Oh, how my heart hurt for her!
 We had friends that had invited us over for the afternoon. I wasn't sure if we should try to keep busy or just go home. Well, we went to our friends house and let me tell you...it was incredible. They made us steak and baked potatoes! After dinner they brought out a  DQ ice cream cake to celebrate Lauren's birthday that had been the day before. Lauren was so excited that they remembered her birthday and they did such great job of distracting us from what was such a yucky day. It was so nice to be loved on and to be with people who understood that being seperated from your spouse for an unknown amount of time is not easy. God is so awesome! I was so worried about what how Lauren would handle it today and God just took care of it!

World Traveler

So, the big news in our house is that my husband is leaving in two weeks for Europe. His job is sending him to help out in Cologne, Germany and possibly Amsterdam. Family is not allowed to travel with him since it is a short term relocation. We think he will be gone for about two months. I'm sad that he won't be here, but very excited for him to have this opportunity. I've always wanted to show him the places where I grew up and now he will get to see some of it! I will admit that I am dealing with a bit of jealousy! I want to go too! We might be able to visit him, but airline tickets are so pricey right now. Sigh...maybe we will become overnight millionares!
I am a bit worried about how Lauren is going to handle this. She is the ultimate daddy's girl. We told her that he was going to go to Germany to work for awhile, but I don't think she quite understands that she and I aren't going. We'll see how it goes. He will fly out the day after she turns five.

Just a nugget of wisdom...

Here is a little excerpt from a book I'm reading: Girl Talk by Carolyn Mahaney and Nicole Mahaney Whitacre. This is Carolyn's response to "If you could raise your daughter all over again, what would you do differently?" This answer kicked my butt!

I wish I had trusted God more.




For every fearful peek into the future, I wish I had looked up to Christ instead. For each imaginary trouble conjured up, I wish I had recalled the specific, unfailing faithfulness of God. In place of dismay and dread, I wish I had exhibited hope and joy. I wish I had approached mothering like the preacher Charles Spurgeon approached his job: 'forecasting victory, not foreboding defeat.'. . .



As women, aren't we all vulnerable to fear, worry, and anxiety? And few areas tempt us more than mothering. But faith must dictate our mothering, not fear. . .Faith toward God is the foundation of effective mothering. . . Success as a mother doesn't begin with hard work or sound principles or consistent discipline (as necessary as these are). It begins with God: His character, His faithfulness, His promises, His sovereignty (pg 65).



Even in the most trying situations with our daughters, we have much more incentive to trust than to fear, much more cause for peace and joy than despair. That's because, as Christians, we have the hope of the gospel.



The gospel begins with bad news. It confirms the fact that we are all sinful, rebellious creatures. . .But the gospel doesn't leave us with bad news. The message of the gospel is that Jesus Christ has come to save rebellious sinners: mothers and daughters (pg 66).

Kindergarten!

Holy Cow! We did it! We made it through the first three days of kindergarten. For those of you who don't know, we decided to homeschool for a while and see where God leads us. This decision did not come easily at all. It was a very long few years (seriously, it was years!) of me arguing with God and telling him NO! Apparently, God won! Anyway, I am so proud of my child! She has jumped right in and done really well with our new schedule. She came into my room really early this morning and said "Mommy, hurry! The sun is up, we need to start our school day! " It made me smile! I'm glad she is so happy!

Where did the time go?

Oh, how I miss this little two year old! She is so excited to start kindergarten on Monday. She will be five next month! Kindergarten and a birthday in less than a month..... my heart hurts...in a good way! 

I was planning on having a nice relaxing weekend before the school day routine started, but it's turning out to be the opposite of that! This month is a very busy month for babies. I was really excited because I have had three moms give birth in a week and a half.  Two of the births were in a 30 hour period. I was tired, but adrenaline kept me going. The morning after the third birth, I came home and slept for two hours until I had to go to work at Babyology. When I woke up I thought that a bug or something had bitten me in my sleep, but soon found out that I had hives! By the time I got home from work I was covered from my shoulders down and very itchy! This morning I woke up and my eyelids were covered and they were all over my tongue. Of course my doctor is out of town until Wednesday! I called urgent care and they said not to worry unless I had facial swelling or I had trouble breathing. Nice! I have been on around the clock benedryl since yesterday. This is the craziest thing that I have ever experienced! I have no idea what caused it.  Hopefully all will be better by Monday!

Laurenism...

So, today my mom was talking to Lauren on the phone and they were talking about a painting easel that she had gotten a few years ago. Lauren stops talking, looks at me and says "Mom, where is my painting weasel?"  Paul and I both cracked up for a few minutes! I love it when little things like that come out of her mouth because I am reminded of how young she still is.  Anyway, that was a bit of humor form our Sunday afternoon!

Here it is...

Some dear sweet people have challenged a blog off. The subject is "Favorite Things." Here you go, Friends!

Fountian cherry coke from Steak n' Shake. The .29 cent charge for the cherry syrup is so worth it!

HGTV - I love to watch people take a horrid looking room or yard and transform it into beauty. Then I dream about what I would do if I had the money. Then I get slightly depressed....it's a vicious cycle! :)

Flip Flops - A girl's pedicure needs to breathe!

Fall/Cool weather - I love the feeling of putting a sweatshirt on for the first time when it gets cool. When you can combine a sweatshirt and the flip flops for a week or so, that is the best!

Ethnic Food - I'll try anything once, but I love mexican (hole in the wall, real mexican restaurant food!) and my new favorite is Somolian food. Yum!

No judgement! I like country music. Not the twangy, roadhouse, "you think my tractors sexy stuff."  I like Lady Antebellum,  Zack Brown Band, etc. I am a bit picky when it comes to music.

Favorite verse - Isaiah 43:2   Go read it! It has become the verse that has spoken to me over these last months.

Tidbits....

I love the way a little kid's mind works.  It looked like it was going to rain earlier and we were on our way out for a meeting and Lauren says "Did you know that there are really big drums in the sky and God beats on them with his hands and that is what makes the thunder?" I really couldn't help but smile at that one! In her mind that was perfectly logical!

She has learned that we live in one state, but her daddy works in another state. Instead of asking what place we are going, she asks "What state are we going to be in?"

Because of my job, Lauren hears me on the phone quite often discussing pregnancy related issues. I put down the phone earlier today and she came over and said "So, did her water break yet?"  She hasn't asked any questions yet about how babies come out and I am not going to share until she does ask. It was quite interesting when I overheard her talking with one of  her  little friends about where babies come out. Friend: "It comes out of your bottom." Lauren: "No it doesn't. It comes out of your belly! That's why God gave us bellies. It goes in there through your belly button."

Lauren update

We had our Neurology follow up today. Ever since we switched her medication everything seems to be going really well.  We haven't seen a siezure in almost three months. Just because we haven't seen them does not mean that she isn't having them, though. On Aug. 26th we are going to do a 24 hour EEG to see what her brain activity is. They are looking for little "siezure bursts" that last 5 seconds or longer. Those are the ones that will effect her driving and activities as she gets older. She has to be two years siezure free before we can bring her off the medication. When she is 6 1/2 we will try to wean her off the meds and see if she is still having any issues. If she doesn't show any siezure signs then there is a good chance she might have grown out of them. If she does show signs of siezures, we will put her back on the meds an wait another two years. We will continue this process until she hits puberty. Taking things one day at a time is a lot easier said than done for me. It is still really hard not to dwell on what her teenage years might look like!  Thank God that for the time being  things are calm for her.

Color on the wall!

Lauren's new walls....she asked for polkadots so Paul gave them to her!

The valance.....no sewing!

This is what I walked into when I went to check on her one night. Snoring with a russian fur hat on her head!

Everything has been pretty busy here. We have been trying to get our walls painted, finally! No more builder beige! I have been busy this week trying to prepare for the kindergarten year. Lesson plans and a school day schedule.  Our start date is going to have to be flexible due to having three babies in the next three weeks that I am waiting on. Busy! Anyway, Lauren is really excited to start school. I got her books out of the box and she just sat there saying "Oh, thank you, Mommy! Real live school books all for me!" Lets see if she stays that excited in the coming years! 

Paul and I just celebrated our 8th anniversary this past week. I can't believe it's been that long! Life seems to be going by faster and faster. My baby is in kindergarten and reading, next she'll be going ot college and getting married.....sigh, I better stop, I might start crying!

My Favorite Things

Thoughts...

I was reading Zephaniah the other day and I read this...

He is a mighty Savior.

He will take delight in you with gladness.

With his love, he will calm all your fears.

He will rejoice over you with joyful songs."

Zephaniah 3:17
 
 
He is there. He loves you. He delights in you! How awesome is that?





I also read this and it made me smile...


"I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in staying strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day & I believe in miracles." - Audrey Hepburn

A little bit of this and that...

Leave it to the four year old girl to turn exercise bands into fashion!

The sky after a major thunderstorm. I thought it was pretty. 

Summer Fun! Finally got to break out Lauren's inflatable pool. Trying to get as much use out of it as we can. She'll be too long in another month or so!

                       

I'm still here!

       Sorry that it has been so long since I've posted. Life got complicated for a bit. So here is the Lauren scoop: We are officially on ONE medication. Weaning her off of the other one was quite the experience. Her little mind wasn't sure what was going on and her behavior and attitiude got pretty nasty. I literally would put her to bed at night and then sit on the couch and burst into tears. Thankfully, all seems better now.  The only side effect we see is that she has a period of hyperness right after she takes her medicine.  I will take a little hyperness anyday over what we went through before! She is sailing right along in her reading lessons and is really excited to start kindergarten.  It's so excting to watch her learn!
        So the question was asked by my other blogger friends: What is your favorite sport and why.....Well, believe it or not, when I was younger I was actaully pretty athletic. I played tennis, soccer and I swam on a swim team for a while. I had a very short fascination with ice skating for a while.  My favorite sport to participate in was swimming. You could move much faster in water than on land so that made me feel like I was really good! :)  Honestly, I don't watch a lot of sports now, but I do love to watch the Olympics. Swimming and diving are my favorites in the summer and my favorite in the winter is ice skating. Only in my dreams am I that graceful!