Vacation Bible School, Vacation San Antonio

Vacation vacation! I'm exhausted, but we've had a lot of fun the last four weeks with three birthdays, Father's Day, VBS and a trip to Texas. Scooby enjoyed VBS despite the late nights, and I had a great time as a volunteer. A friend posted this photo of Scoob on her blog and, as a proud Mama, can I just say...where did he get those eyelashes and why don't I have them?! Not fair...

More soon from our trip to Texas. All I can think about is the breakfast tacos...

la vita è bella

Same jammies, same couch, same smile...

PreSchool Graduation Day

There really aren't words. I was pretty speechless when he came out of his room all dressed up. I'm not sure if it's the hair, or the outfit, but suddenly, the 25 year old is peeking out of my 5 year old.


This was his "cool" pose.

thankful...

As in, this week's VBS song. I wish you could hear it...Monday, after a dismal, exhausting weekend, I was pretty much bawling on the way to work. On a side note, I had snapped many new photos Sunday night and was bringing the camera to work to download. This song came on the stereo, and, as it played, God started a slideshow in my head. I went to work, and over my lunch break, put together my own personal slide show with the song as background. If I had the right software (not PowerPoint evidentally) I would upload it and share it with you! I'll just have to type in the lyrics and you'll have to use your imagination.

Just my way of sharing how God gives us just enough to get by...and He never lets go.

"I like to think about the goodness of the Lord."



"He gives me everything I need and so much more..."



"I just want to lift my hands, and say that I love Him."



"I just want to lift my heart in praise...."



"I wanna be thankful. I wanna be grateful."



"I wanna remember everything that the Lord has done"



"I wanna be thankful. I wanna be grateful."



"I wanna be, I wanna be THANKFUL!"

this would not be "the calm" part...

so, i've been sick off and on for the last month. it started out as a cold, and it just wouldn't go away. then i started running a fever. ok, so the cold got worse, or i've caught another one, right? a few days, and the fever went away.

then it came back four days later. and by fever, i mean 24/7, 101-102 degrees. when it spiked i would get chills so bad that, per Big G, the bed was rattling. i was feeling pretty lousy.

then i developed a sinus infection - that explained the recurring fever. right?

started antibiotics, started feeling better. antibiotics pose their own set of challenges, but i was managing ok. we had our nice weekend in Mendocino and i felt pretty good.

then the fever came back again. three weeks now - it was getting weird.

long story short, it appears that I have a complicated version of a very common virus called CMV. it's basically a first cousin of mono and lasts an indeterminate length of time. it explains all my collective symptoms; it even explains why some days I feel pretty good. my version apparently has a mild hepatitis along with it, and as I understand it, that's causing a lot of my feeling of general malaise.

while i'm relieved to have a diagnosis after a month of question marks, it certainly is bizarre. we take our good health for granted - at least I always have. i catch a cold and i'm pretty darn sure that, while it may be uncomfortable for 10 days or so, it will go away. and this will too, eventually, but I gotta say, the part where the doctors are all going "huh?" and they are drawing (what felt like) gallons of blood trying to figure this out - i was pretty scared. "cancer" and "lupus" and other hideous illnesses danced in my head...

(my advice to any of you who ever encounter a similar situation...stay away from Google! You'll just terrify yourself out of a good night's sleep. )

oh, and another thing - i have apparently developed my first allergy ever...to amoxicillin. head to toe rash. good times.

all that being said, Scooby and I are listening to the VBS song tape trying to learn the songs for next month. his favorite is Matt Redman's "never let go" and tonight it was requested at bedtime. as i sang the verse about the "valley of the shadow of death" scooby asked for an explanation. i had to think for a moment (boiling down abstract concepts to a 4 year old level is a great brain excercise.)

I explained: a shadow is a place where the light doesn't shine, and if God is our light, then he's singing about feeling like he's walking through a place without God....but God never lets go, like the song says, so even though it FEELS like we're walking through a place without God, He's really still with us. All the time!

as usual with parenthood, I think I got more out of it than he did.

p.s. speaking of being in the "valley of the shadow" - it's about 8:30 pm here, and i just heard a door bang. I walked into the foyer to find Scooby coming IN from front the front yard...a good half hour after i put him to bed. i thought the top of my head was going to pop right off.

"oh no, you never let go...through the calm and through the storm...Lord, you never let go of me."

redwood trees...

G and I spent a lovely weekend in Northern California recently to celebrate our 10th anniversary. It was peaceful and serene in our little inn by the sea, and we spent a great deal of time curled up on a couch with the resident doggy, a warm fire, a book and a glass of Alexander Valley wine. Heaven!

On the drive up, as we crossed over to the coast from 101, we passed through a dense redwood forest. As I stared out the window at miles and miles of green, I noted how it is the habit of redwoods to grow in circles. It all begins with one tree, but after a few hundred, or at times, thousand years, the tree will die - disease, or fire, or whatever - and offshoots spring up around it. Sometimes you will happen across a gigantic stump in the center of this little group - others, the original tree is long gone, and you are left with a perfect little circle of trees. Little families.

It made me think about my mom, actually. She's gone, and the void she left remains. However, around that void has sprung up so many strong, loving, godly women, that the hole she left behind is surrounded. We family is veritably encircled by love...

So thank you, Patty and Nancy, Peggy and Sharon, Bethany and Kathy, and Heather, and Christy, and so many others who are part of that circle. We feel truly loved.

another milestone....

Scooby discovered the other night that with the pictures as a guide, he could actually sound out the words on each of this pages in one of Scrappy's picture books. He was so excited he did it three times for me and twice for Daddy. I had to grab camera...it was a big day.

how spoiled am I???

Today I had the pleasure of being invited to a delightful "Mother's Day Tea" hosted by the pre-K class. I was expecting a typical preschool parent/child event, complete with a sticky activity and kid food. To my surprise, we began the morning with a fashion show put on by all 23 kids, each replete in a darling costume. Our Scooby was Buzz Lightyear. Then, the kids were ushered out so that the moms could sit and enjoy a lovely plate of tea sweets and savories that would rival Lisa's Tea Room. A few dads were on hand to serve hot tea, refill plates, and we even had live background music in the form of Ken M. on the guitar. The children then returned with gifts, including the requisite hand-made photo frame and handprint flowers...but it didn't stop there. They also suprised us with other cute gifts like chocolate, a jar of heavenly moisturizer, and some very cute flip-flops they helped to decorate. The kids then performed some very cute song and dance numbers, then left us again to our tea. When I offered Scooby a bite of my cookie, he hugged me and said, "No, Mom. This is your day."

I almost fell out of my chair.

a happy day...

after two failed attempts to visit my granddad since Christmas, usually due to someone or other being sick, I finally just took a day off from work and flew down with Dad for the day. Dad went on to a business meeting elsewhere, so it was just me and Grandpa. What a treat! He took me to all his favorite haunts, bought me a scrumptious breakfast, and graciously allowed me to treat him to a seafood lunch right on the water overlooking Morro Rock. It was a gorgeous, clear day, and we had a great time catching up. The day concluded with a walk in the nature preserve/marsh that is just outisde across the street from where he lives. The herons were out in full force...I uploaded the full size photo, so click to see the larger version and say hello to our little heron friend...

come stai?

i love my ipod.



i'm rather late to the game - i'm just discovering what a useful little gadget this is. i've had it for two years and have only recently begun using it. so far, in addition to all my swell playlists, i've listened to four audiobooks. i'm now listening to the bible on my way to work in the morning, and learning italian on the way home. not to mention, i can download all of David Cook's studio performances and play them over and over and over and over and over....




on to other things...Scrappy is progressing far too quickly for mama's taste. he now crawls, FAST, when appropriately motivated. not by the hundreds of dollars worth of colorful toys bought just for him from his adoring fans, oh no. rather, he will attack any of the following items with vim and verve. and, no, making it dissappear from sight does not work. he's a smart little guy. if it's laying on the floor and he spots it, he's there in a second. if you're holding it, he will attempt to leap from the arms of whomever is holding him in order to obtain it. if it's over his head, he will try every possible means of climbing the offending object until he's able to reach the desired object. we're thinking he'll make a great secret agent - he's quite persistent.

• remote controls
• cell phones
• telephone handsets
• car keys
• magazines, catalogs, etc.
• jewelry

Big G was out of town at a conference this week, so last night after Scrappy went to bed, Scooby and I lingered over our dinner at the table. We were eating leftover Easter ham and green beans, and as he scooped up another bite, Scooby closed his eyes as he chewed with a dreamy smile on his face, then deeply sighed...."ahhhhh. Now that's Good Eats!"

and so it begins...

He's figured out that he can roll his way across the room. I left him alone for just a second, and like a typical boy, he went straight for the heavy equipment.

He absolutely adores his big brother. And, Big Brother loves having a ready audience. Scrappy looks rather underfed in this photo, though...

if you're happy and you know it...

It's been a big week for us! I had fun at a black-tie gala posing as Nancy O'Dell (or maybe Lisa Rinna, but I don't have the lips...) conducting interviews on the red carpet. Meanwhile, Scrappy cut two teeth and didn't tell anyone, and yesterday, learned to clap. He'll be crawling any second now...

happiness is...

• Eight well-endorsed, unread paperbacks on my bookshelf
• Open-mouth baby kisses
• Four year olds who get dressed when you ask them to
• An empty dishwasher and a clean kitchen
• Girlfriends, chocolate, and really good port
• Sunlight at 6am instead of darkness
• Not having to wear a coat in the morning
• Friday about 5pm....

happy times...

we just returned from a ski trip to the Sierra Nevada. it was a happy weekend spent with close friends from home and afar. you might recognize this guy as the dedicated writer of the LifeisGoodinTobinHill blog.

Scooby and Scrappy enjoyed all the attention, too. Big G sported a colorful eye after his cheek connected with his ski pole on a mogul. He kinda looks like a bouncer now.

Surprised by joy

The mail came yesterday, and with it, two bright red envelopes addressed to each of the boys. They were mailed by my parents. Yes, my parents. Plural. I have two now. I lost one. I mourned one. Now...I'm back to two. Surprise #1.

Also worth noting, they were mailed two days after their wedding. She had the time and energy to think to buy and mail Valentines to my kids within 48 hours of a wonderful, but exhausting, event. Surprise #2.

Upon reading the sweet Valentines to my two sons, I noted the signature. Love, Papa and Nana. Surprise #3.

I hadn't realized how great a void has been left in our lives by the lack of a maternal grandmother. I mourn my mother's loss, but I hadn't let myself dwell on the far-reaching effects of that loss to my own children. We have a wonderful paternal "Grammie" who lavishes love and delight upon our children, but that's all they have ever known, and truly, all I ever expected them to know. Who could ask for more?

But God gives lavishly, and now, my boys are enjoying the love and delight of a Nana as well.
I still find it hard to believe that she WANTS to take on the love and attention of four more grandchildren when she has such a wonderful batch of her own blood kin to cherish, and yet, she really seems to want us as her own.

My children really will get to enjoy a maternal grandmother, for the very first time.
I'm thrilled, delighted and touched. I just never expected it.
"Surprised by joy" really sums it up.

Worth reading: What Papa himself has to say on the subject of joy.

a thousand words...

How cute is she? Who knew that Mom was a blonde as a babe...and that blonde WAS a babe, was she not?

We are all rejoicing in my father's new-found joy, and will be celebrating with him and his bride-to-be this weekend as they join their lives together. In preparation, his house has been under a major overhaul the last few months and the deepest, darkest closets have been emptied...onto my dining room table. I've been wading through piles of prom dresses and formals, halloween costumes, boxes of photographs, Mom's old sketch books, family photos, jewelry, heirlooms and enough pairs of Dyeables for an entire wedding party. Many, many happy memories have emerged, this photo being one of them. This was taken Christmas Day (um, I want to celebrate Christmas where my kids can run around outside in the sunshine all afternoon in their short sleeves!) approx. 1953. I love the blonde curls and double strap shoes. So cute. Some of the really stellar finds have been:

• My high school prom dress (pink satin...)
• My great-grandmother's wedding ring.
• The only known photo of my great-grandfather, at 8th grade graduation in the early 1920's.
• Mom's sketchbook - dozens of figure studies, hand studies and portraits of my brother and me as babies. I'm going to have fun framing those and sharing them with the rest of the family.
• The dress my mother wore to my wedding.
• My first bridesmaid's dress, circa 1983 (lilac taffeta with LOTS of ruffles!).
• A puzzle of all the counties in Texas that my brother made, by hand, probably around the 8th grade. Why Texas? I have NO idea.
• A photograph of the USS Bainbridge, upon which my Dad served during the Vietnam War
• Several watercolor sketches by my Grandpa B.
• The silver and enamel bracelet Dad sent Mom in a puzzle box from Singapore during the war. He sent the combination two weeks later, but lucky for her, it arrived before the box did.

Happy memories. Life goes on. Joy comes back. Isn't it nice how that works?

he could have said it worse...

The other morning I was cuddling in bed with Scooby as we often do on weekdays. We were nose to nose, discussing his dreams, what we were going to do that day, etc. until Scooby politely said, with a wrinkled nose: "Mom, can you turn your head? You're giving me too much air."

hey, it worked!

I've been stumped as to how my template had gotten so messed up until a very tech-savvy friend pointed out that my funny FBOFW cartoon had misaligned the table. Now fixed, I shall update my booklist and links accordingly! Happy Tuesday.