A 'last' and a few 'firsts'

The kiddos finished up their CO swimming lessons this week.  Gwangi and Krypto have been in the big pool and  doing a wonderful job.  Krypto earned his green band which means he is an independent swimmer.  For the test, he had to tread water for a minute in the deep end, swim half the length of the pool in the front stroke, then roll over and float for a minute and then swim the rest of the length in a back stroke...  Excellent job son!  We're so proud of you.  Gwangi moved over to the big pool, even though he wasn't 6 yet, and earned his yellow band which means he can tread water for about 30 seconds in the middle of the pool and then swim half the pool in the front stroke.  He is doing an excellent job too!

The past three months were Sissi's first swimming lessons, they don't start until they're three.  She loved it and thought it was such a "big girl" thing to do and she likes being like her "boys".

 Sissi swimming to her teacher and working on her "ice cream scoops".

 The boys waiting for their water polo game to begin.

The boys during their game, their teachers were amazing!

For St. Patrick's Day, we decided to do green pancakes thanks to an idea from Laura Clapp (thanks!) and so here's a picture of our pancakes ;)

St. Patrick's Day pancakes

And our 2nd big first, I saved the best for last ;), Krypto's 8th birthday is coming up and guess what he wanted...his own "big kid" Bible!  He is always borrowing mine to read (something I don't mind of course and I mind it even less now since I have several versions of the Bible on my Kindle!)  We went to Mardel on Saturday morning and we looked in the kid section first, then went over to the adult section and he picked this one out, it's an NASB.  We even had the cover embossed with his name by our friend Alison Proenneke (thanks lady!)  What a great way to celebrate a birthday!

Our Glen Eyrie Tea Party

Yesterday, some of my great girlfriends met me for High Tea at the Glen Eyrie Castle.  It was such a sweet time.  We took a tour of the castle, didn't take too many pictures though, we were moving fast and listening to all the amazing stories (and talking ;)).  I did get a picture of General Palmer's bedroom and bathroom though, complete with phone.

This is the bathroom, see the phone on the wall, and he had radiant heat under his floor in the pipes running between the shower and the sink.  This was 100+ years ago!

The General's bedroom

Our tour guide telling us about all the unique fireplaces in the hall.  The General and his daughters traveled all over Europe buying up old fireplaces to put in his home, they are all different.  This is one of 4 that all back to each other and share the same chimney; but, are in different rooms.

Our photo, taken in front of yet another fireplace and outside of the "Morning Room" where we had tea.
From L-R: Rachel, me, Hosanna, Loni, and April

Thank you ladies for sharing the afternoon with me, it was so much fun!!!  I love you all so much and will miss you terribly when we all go off on our adventures this fall!  You've been an example of a "friend that sticks closer than a brother."  I will never forget all of our talks, our time together and the unconditional love you've shown me, even when I'm grumpy and complaining :)!!!!  Your cards and notes of encouragement will truly be held close to my heart.

"The Lord watch between me and thee while we are absent one from another!"  Genesis 31:49

Attacks

I wanted to give you all an update on my health in particular....because so many people have asked.  I am thankful that there are numerous people who care, who care about me, my family, and how we're feeling.  Thank you!

On March 2nd I went to see the neurologist again, to follow up about the MRI that I had had done in January and about the CESI shot in February.  I was in shock when he told me that there was no improvement and in fact some severe degeneration (more than is normal for my age).  I think I must have misunderstood the nurse that called me about my MRI results back in February then, I was sure she said I had a normal neck and I had claimed healing!

He went on to explain that I have spinal compression, that my vertebrae are pinching into my spinal column and that my neck is my "weak link", as he put it to me.  He gave me all kinds of advice about driving, avoiding accidents, and not doing "yoga standing on my head" ;).  Now, I don't do yoga; but, when I had mentioned that I had really been working out since the beginning of January, that I felt that had strengthened my muscles, and I wasn't having pain and tingling anymore, he got a strange look on his face.  He said that I need to be super careful and he predicted that I'll need to have the neck surgery in less than 20 years, whether or not I have an accident, that it is degenerating that fast.  Oh man, really?  Not what I wanted to hear.

Fast forward a week and I begin having very itchy bumps all over my legs, it wakes me up at night and is super uncomfortable, not to mention not attractive either.  I let it go on for a week and finally Indy insisted I go in to see a Dr.  It's some sort of allergy, they are definitely hives and it was a classic case of Utricaria.  He gave me a steroid to take (yuck, think it's making me grumpy), some histamine blockers, and a topical cream.  Then he said I'd feel much better in about 8-12 hours.  I woke up the next day worse, my eyes were swollen and weeping all day, my nose was congested and I had a sinus headaches...oh, and the hives were still there.  I went into the Acute Care clinic on Saturday AM at 6 (this was yesterday).  That Dr. said I'm obviously still in contact with whatever the allergin is and said he'd put me in for an allergy referral for next week.  I asked if it could be stressed related, he said no, it's an allergy.  Maybe I'm allergic to stress????  Or as a few friends have joked, I'm allergic to leaving Colorado...OR, as Indy joked today, maybe I'm allergic TO Colorado.  Maybe this is God's way of redirecting me after all my whining about leaving my comfort zone and how scared I've been the past few weeks as things are winding down and we're down to less than 2 months here.

I'm so sorry to all of my friends this past week that have had to listen to me complain about all I have to do, I'm saying it now, I'm sorry.  If I fall into that trap again, remind me of what I wrote, and pray for and with me, OK?!

Seriously though, it is spring and things are in bloom, maybe I am having seasonal allergies...I just think it's weird that I grew up here, lived here 7 years as a married woman and now, at 36, I'm developing allergies...

I so know this is yet another attack.

One of God's names is Jehovah Rapha, the Lord is our healer.  There is a story in Exodus where this name comes from, let me elaborate after I re-read it this morning.  The Israelites are in the desert and complaining about no water to drink, or that it is bitter.  The place is named Marah after this.  But, one of the things that stopped me in my tracks was the Israelites' bad attitude.  They were complaining and "not being happy with what they had" yet again.  How many times oh Lord, do we do that to you?  As a Father, you are soooo patient with us.  I quickly loose my temper with my children when they are discontent and whining!  Here is what the Lord told Moses to say to the people:

Exodus 15: 20-27 "If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee."


I know that I have had a bad, stressful, and not so good attitude lately...The Lord will heal me; but, the healing that I think I really need isn't even physical.  We are created in God's own image and that means we have a mind, a body, and a soul... I need some healing in my mind and soul right now, more even than I need in my body!

So, for now I am going to claim Psalm 30:2 "Oh Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me!"

I need to let go of these fears and anxieties, of the stress over how much there is to do, how much it's costing, and all the things and people that I am leaving.  I am going to take more responsibility for my temper, my agitation, and being grumpy.  What I really need to remember is the verse we had Nathan memorize about 2 years ago when he would get angry and say wild, outlandish, and hurtful things to get a rise out of us or his siblings...it goes like this:  Proverbs 12:18 "The words of the reckless pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."  I don't want to hurt my family and friends, or even myself, I want to bring healing and be wise in what I say and do.  I pray for the Lord's healing on my mind and soul right now, and like the old song (and Psalm 51) remind us, I pray he will "renew a right spirit within me."

My sick baby girl

First, I have to start off by saying that I am a strange duck ;).  As I made the title for this blog post, I was actually visualizing diagramming the sentence.  So strange, huh!  Anyone else ever do that?

So, today was co-op at New Life, I had all my stuff together, even got up early and got my work-out taken care of!!!  We had some oatmeal with cut up banana slices and milk here at home, I loaded up all my plants and things for my class, and we went to Chick-Fil-A for their free breakfast.  Yes, I fed them before we went...it's only 3 chicken minis each and sure enough, Krypto and Gwangi both said they were still hungry after we ate...how will I ever feed them when they are teenagers, ahhh!

We got the boys settled in their 9 o'clock PE classes and Sissi and I take that hour to color pictures, talk to each other, talk to friends that pass by, play games on Connilee's or Sarah's phone (lol) and whatever else happens along.  I put her in Teacher's Tots at 9:45 and go up to get set up for my Plant Kingdom class.  We start class: Prayer Requests and Prayer time, Show and Tell of things they found over the course of the week, and sharing about George Washington Carver (our notable person of the week).  We're just getting ready to start our experiment and transplant project, and then to discuss stems and show them the celery that I had cut up and put in colored water to display the xylem and phloem, and in walks Valerie...oh, no!  "Sissi is sick, she has a headache and a fever"...really, I just saw her 30 minutes ago and she seemed fine...argh!  I set my TA, Rosalene, up with teaching the rest of the class and I go to get her.  Sure enough, she's lethargic, barely talking (NOT normal for her, the girl that doesn't know any strangers ;)) and is hot.  I sit and rock her while we wait for the 10 o'clock classes to finish up and then I figure we'll just go home.  Gwangi comes up to my class at 11 and of course, as expected, he's upset about having to leave early...Krypto comes out and is on his way to his "Where in the World" geography class and I see the disappointment in his face.  Along comes Hosanna to the rescue!!!!  She offers to let the boys go to their 11 o'clock classes, feed them lunch and bring them home...really, she that already has 4 kids...hmm, maybe she isn't done yet (I'm ducking now so I don't get hit when she throws something at me ;))  But, really, Hosanna my dear friend, I so appreciate you and thank you for all that you do for me, you're awesome!

We get out to the car...ouch, my arms were hurting, two bags, my rolling carts with papers, books and plants, two jackets and a 30+ lb sleepy girl in my arms....b-a-r-e-l-y made it.  We weren't out of the parking lot and she was asleep (now, New Life has a huge parking...but still!)  I unloaded the car when we got home and tried to put her in bed; but, she woke up and asked to watch 'Aladdin'....so, I figured it would be a special treat for my sickie.

Please pray this is short lived and no one else gets sick...we already did that this year!

Here she is, in all her cute, dear, adorable, sickiness (yes, a made up word we use)...

And...here she is just two days ago, thrilled and ecstatic that she had finished her first Kumon book "My First Book of Tracing"...good job baby girl, I'm so proud of you!!!

Faith or Foolishness

I've been cogitating on this all morning and I think we could use some prayer!

You all know, we have our house on the market...well, this week we've gotten several calls from Realtors that would like to help us sell our house.  We've also gotten several emails from people asking if we would do an "owner finance" to sell the house and we've said "at this point, we're not interested."  It makes me wonder, where are the people with bank approved financing...they have to be out there, right?

This morning, before we left to go to church, we got a phone call from the author of one of the emails.  He is a retiring E7 and I guess his first wife and teenage son have done some damage to his credit.  His new wife and young children would like to move on from this and buy a home, they are tired of renting.  I guess they were looking on-line, saw our house and the wife said "I want that house"...this really resonated with Indy because he remembers me being the same way when I saw the house, I just knew it was the one for us.  Well, they would like to sign a 3 year lease and do a rent to own scenario.  He is retiring, will be getting another job, his wife just got hired at Memorial and he says they should be able to improve their credit in the next year or so and then buy the house.  Sounds good????  I'm not sure...

We don't know these people personally at all, could it be a con?  We've been praying for the right family to come along and for them to just "know" that this is the house for them...is this an answer to prayer?  In so many ways the Lord asks us to take steps of faith and trust him with everything...to walk out on the limb when it doesn't make sense to other people.  Is this one of those situations?  Is this the Lord saying "trust me with everything, even with the only 'thing' perse that you own and have money invested in..."  I really don't know, I can't say one way or the other.

Part of me is terrified, what if we are 9 time zones away and they stop paying the rent...what if they trash the house (believe me, we've heard horror stories about renters)...what can we really do from Africa?  I don't want to have to deal with legal situations and again, the money that is invested in this house is supposed to be our future down payment on a property in NC.  Part of me also wants to be a 'helper' and bless someone that is having a tough time, that just needs a 'break'.  I am really at a loss as to what to do.

Is this a matter of having faith and doing the right thing, the hard thing that the Lord is asking us to do, OR, is this foolishness, are we acting too quickly and 'giving' our house away and the Lord is up there shaking His head saying "I tried to bless you, but you didn't wait for me..." (I'm remembering the irreverent old joke of the lady that kept wondering why she wasn't winning the lottery and the Lord saying 'I tried to help you; but you wouldn't buy the lottery ticket' ;))

Have any of you ever had this dilemma?  What did you learn from it, any verses or pieces of wisdom would be appreciated.

We did tell them we would pray about it; but, out of kindness I don't want it to go on too long and give them false hope.  They first emailed us on Thursday and then followed up with the phone call today....what to do, what to do!

A new take on Love Languages

This might be a rambling post ;)...no really, the journey and process of writing it has been going on for awhile.

I think it all began a few weeks ago when one of my Tapestry of Grace FB friends made a blog entry about our love languages changing over time.  Sorry, Renita, I read your blog entry and thought, "yeah, right!  I'm Act of Service and have always been and always will be...end of discussion!"
http://crazyhomedaze.blogspot.com/2011/02/love-language.html

Then a local friend of mine, April, posted an article from Parents magazine about our tendency as parents to 'over-praise' our children.  I thought, I can see that point; but, if your child's love language is Word of Affirmation (WOA), then it isn't over-praise, it is an essential part of you telling your child that you love them.
http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Five_Reasons_Stop/

Enter the practical application...my life!

I have two boys and the competition between the two of them can at times be intense.  I was asked by my friend Connilee today if I would have Gwangi start playing the violin this next year.  I said no, I was actually talking up the piano to him because I just didn't want to deal with the competition between the boys.  What if by chance, Gwangi starts creeping up on Kyrpto and becomes a better player, how would they handle that at 8 and 6?  Character Training, yes, I know...we get lots of that around here; but, should I set up a situation that I know is going to be difficult for them to handle?!

I went on to tell her how for Krypto's "Where in the World" geography class that he has to learn 50 countries and the 50 U.S. states by the end of the semester.  We chose to learn all of the countries in Africa and so have the top 10 done and are working on the bulge countries...not an easy task for anyone, much less a 7 year old.  I was quizzing him with a blank map and he got stuck and out of nowhere Gwangi pipes in with "Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia..."  Krypto was in tears.  I then told Gwangi "good job" and it made Krypto even more upset.  I had to explain to him that just because I compliment someone else, doesn't mean that he did a bad job...I CAN give my other children compliments.  The problem is that Krypto wants them, needs them and has come to expect them (he's my WOA kid).  If I don't give them, he starts fishing for them... "Mommy, did I do a good job on such and such" and I say "yes, honey, just because I don't say something doesn't mean that I'm not happy with your work!"  Ahhh, the essence of motherhood/parenting...trying to juggle what they need with what they want!

So, I was talking about this more with Hosanna and Rachel at lunch today and then, on my drive to my Dr.'s appointment, I had a light bulb moment...about myself!

Lately, I've become a fisher too!

"Honey, did you like this meal?"
"Honey, do you think I'm a good teacher to our children?"
"Honey, do you think I did a good job staging this room for the house pictures?"
"Honey, am I a good friend?"
etc., etc., etc...

WOW, has my love language changed?  I still love a helping hand with the trash and changing light bulbs and doing dishes...but has getting Words of Affirmation started climbing up the ranks?

I got home tonight from my 'date' with Sissi, gave her a bath and put her to bed, then I got on the computer.  I decided to go to the website for the 5 love languages and take the quiz again...

http://www.5lovelanguages.com/assessments/love/

I was surprised...not only did Words of Affirmation move up the list, it was #1 (I had 11 points on WOA) and my #2 was Acts of Service at 9 points...still close...but not #1.  I was in shock...really, are you serious???  I've changed my love language?  More reflection will be needed and I really want Indy to take the test again.  He's always been a toss up between WOA and Physical Touch, I don't think he's changed; but, it would be neat to see how he scores.

Let me know if any of you have had a similar experience or what you might find to be true (or false) about what I've said.  I'm all ears ;)!

Menu Planning - March 2011

I know that I still haven't updated my "Recipes" section on the blog and have been asked about it by several people.  Well, rather than do that, I'll be honest with you, about 25% of my recipes are from a half dozen books laying around the house, about 25% is from allrecipes.com and the other half...well, they're in my head ;)!

Yes, it's true, it's true, I'm a dab of this and a 'shake, shake' of that kind of cook (or 'cooker' as my kids affectionately call me!)  I rarely follow a recipe as printed and quite often make stuff up as I go based on ingredients around the house.

Don't despair though, I do have a technique that helps me so that I don't get stuck in a rut when it comes to menu planning.  I tend to make a menu for a month at a time and I save them.  That way, other than some tried and true favorites, I try to not repeat things for months on end.  I'll start posting my menus each month so that you can get some ideas.  Oh, and most items aren't necessarily stuck to a day...though again, I do have a "plan"...we TEND to have fish/seafood on Monday, pasta on Tuesday or Wednesday, soup night is Thursday, pizza night is Friday, and I save more complex or bigger recipes for weekends when we might have company or I have more time to cook.

Read on and take what you want and leave the rest, I won't ever know or be offended.

You can do searches and find most of these recipes on allrecipes.com or maybe take an idea and fly home to your own cookbook collection with a new perspective!

Blessings on you all...

March 2011 Menu

W, 2 Mar - Sushi and Shrimp night after Groc Shop

R – French Onion soup in a bread bowl (make bowls that afternoon, freeze extras for chili next wk.)

F – Pizza night –white w/ chicken, bacon and garlic

S – Date night out at the Y!!!  Elephant Bar for us!

Sun – Monte Cristo Sandwiches and fries

M, 7th– Seafood Enchiladas w/ guac and chips

T – Schnitzel with noodles

W – Chicken Pesto Pasta

R – Colorado Buffalo Chili in a bread bowl

F – Pizza night – 3 cheese and pepperoni

S – Denver for St. Patty’s Day Parade, eat out w/ Bernadette

Sun – Fondue w/ Rice Balls Ala Tim

M, 14th– Lemon and Garlic Swordfish steaks with cheese quinoa and steamed veggie

T – Pork Tenderloin with Cranberry sauce and veggie

W – Tomato Soup and grilled cheese

R – St. Patty’s Day - Cheesy Corned Beef Hash and Irish Soda Bread

F – Pizza night

S – Blue Cheese Buffalo Burgers and fries

Sun – Steaks with rosemary potatoes and a fruit

M, 21st – Crab legs and steamed brocc cheese pasta or rice

T – BBQ chicken w/ homemade mac and cheese

W – Spaghetti and Meatballs

R – Black beans, rice and chicken soup

F – Pizza night – leftover BBQ chicken with red onions, etc.

S – Baked Ham with stuffing and pineapple rings

Sun – Lasagna

M, 28th – Tuna steaks w/ rice and a veggie

T – Turkey and Blue Cheese Meatballs over pasta

W – Antelope Goulash

R – Split pea and ham soup

F – Pizza night –Hawaiian (w/ leftover ham)

S – Slow Cooker Chicken Stroganoff

Sun – Meatloaf, potatoes and green beans

M, 4th – Tequila Shrimp w/ Mexican rice and guac

Tues – Groc Shopping