Moving

Well folks, I've decided to venture into the blog-o-sphere on my own, to a certain extent. I am taking my daily life to a separate blog. But behold. I bring you tidings of great joy - I will still be a contributor here at Woman on the Edge's blog!! I'll just put some of my deeper thoughts here. Sometimes I will just paste a post from my other blog over here, too. Anyway, I wanted to let everybody know where I have been. Please visit me. And leave me comments. I'm a glutton for affirmation.
I'm getting ready for a trip to my in-laws' house for my husband's brother's wedding. I'm sure I will have some deep thoughts to share when I get back. Ha!
<3 Christy

Monday again!

Monday again! Strange to say, but Monday is quickly becoming my favorite day of the week! There's something about the fresh start, the clean slate that Monday is. Every Monday, I'm back on top again. It's a new week, a new plan, a new day.

Yesterday, my pastor (well there was actually two of them) talked about gratitude. They made a profound point that we can't enjoy life when we lack gratitude. So today, I'm grateful for Monday and all it's possibilities.

The real challenge will be making it to Friday, or better yet, Sunday with gratitude intact. Here goes nothin!!
-Becky

A Joyous Vernal Equinox To You

Hooray! Spring is here! Not that it hasn't already been here for a couple of months...Florida doesn't exactly have seasons. But that has never stopped me from celebrating them! When I had my first baby, I knew I wanted to celebrate Earth's seasons and teach my kids about the cycles of life that are around us. There is so much to be learned - just by being out there and paying attention.
So, I really love spring. Next to fall, it's my favorite. I always want to wear pastels and plant flowers (see my post about the baby snowbushes for more info on what a sucky gardener I am...) and twirl around in fields of wildflowers wearing a cotton sundress and no shoes. Sorry. I didn't mean for you to know that part.
Being the middle of the week, however, it was a little tough to come up with celebratory activities. But we did manage to have our traditional Vernal Equinox breakfast:

Yep. Shredded wheat bird nests. Held together with marshmallow fluff (which is okay for breakfast in my book). And filled with Whopper eggs.

DAILY BLISS: Well, for one thing, Whopper eggs for breakfast. And I had lots of fun talking to my work-friend Julianna today.

<3 Christy

This has been a non-stop sort of a day. I hardly stopped to pee at work, which is unusual. It felt like I was only there for an hour or so. Rushed around picking up kids and getting my flat tire fixed (thank goodness my dad paid for that road hazard deal!). Then I did something that I really regret and may never do again. Once I had both kids in the car after school and clubs, I headed for the grocery store. Yes, the grocery store trip that I mentioned several days ago didnt' happen until this afternoon. It was already close to five o'clock, so all the other crazy people who didn't plan for dinner tonight were also at the grocery store, along with a surprising number of people in those little riding carts that clog the aisle and beep when you back up.
Having been cooped up at school all day, my children were...well, not like my real children. They picked and tickled and ran and twirled and jumped - all to my utter embarrassment. They cut large swaths of aisle space ahead of me, and created a nice, empty wake behind me. I was mortified.
I was already tired and hungry, not having had proper food to pack for lunch. The deal is, I spent an hour in the grocery store, saying things through my teeth. Everyone in the grocery store knew the names of my children due to the sheer number of times I called their names in an attempt to quiet them or at least distract them. Also, it probably had something to do with my increasing volume levels with each subsequent correction. And no, I didn't remember to buy a new paper brain. Probably because I didn't have anywhere to write it down.
Yeesh.
But the great news is yet to come. One of the ladies on the bulletin-folding committee at the church I work for asked if I liked to read mysteries. I said sure. She brought me a bag of them. They smell like smoke and I was a little put off. But, she was so nice to share with me, so I decided to read them. Guess what? They're dirty! An old lady gave me dirty books to read! Ha! Now, the quandry is, do I read something I never would pick up, for fear that the likeness of the book's cover would be permanently seared onto my hands? I don't want to hurt her feelings....and I feel like I should at least be able to say that I liked a certain part of one of stories, just to prove that I read them and thereby avoid hurting her feelings....
This is not really a serious question, of course. I am simply enjoying the fact that this old lady actually read this and felt okay passing it on to me. Wait a second....I hope I don't look that desperate.

DAILY BLISS: My daily antioxidant dose in the form of pomegranate juice and chocolate.
<3 Christy

Organizer Schmorganizer

Silly title, huh? I was just reading about Christy's Paper Brain. Christy, I found a great Organizer by accident last year at Walmart. It was the last one on the shelf. It's Amy Knapp's Family Organizer and it is great for us at-home moms. It has weekly and monthly To-do lists, weekly grocery and menu lists, and best of all lots of writing space and cool little stickers for special days and appointments. The lady who created it came up with it because she couldn't find an organizer with enough writing space for her either. She makes a regular one that is pretty inspirational on its own and a Christian version too. You may want to check her website at www.thefamilyorganizer.com. Wow-see how boring I am. Here I am excited about sharing tips on organizers of all things.

We had a pretty exciting weekend. Actually it was anything but exciting, but sometimes those are the most enjoyable weekends. We have had the Strawberry Festival going on in Plant City, so we have had a lot of activities in the last few weeks. We saw Mark Lowry with my Daddy and nephew Noah on Sat. March 3rd. It was the rainiest, coldest day of the year so far I think. We left right after he finished as we were all soaked to the bone and freezing cold. But he did a great show, sang my favorite song of his...Mary, Did You Know? I took the kids to the Grand Parade on Monday the 5th and had a great time with some great friends. Then on Sun. March 11th, we went back to see Josh Turner. If you don't know who he is, you are missing out on one fine performer, and I mean fine in every sense. He is HOT! He is also clearly a Christian man and he tours with his gorgeous wife in the band, which I think is pretty cool. A friend in our Sunday School gave us tickets for the Make-your-own shortcake booth and my son really enjoyed making his own strawberry creation and he ate it all! The following week Justin had a Spring party at school on Friday to kick off Spring Break which is this week. Our week was full with PTA meeting and dental appointment for Justin. This is our one week of rest before we kick in to high gear with Soccer season, Easter activities at church, and a lot of end of the year stuff at school. So please forgive me if I am totally sporadic with blogging. We will be extremely busy.

In the midst of all that, I get to go on a Women's retreat with my new church and finish Beth Moore's "Daniel" bible study. We moved our letter Sunday to First Baptist Church of Plant City. I am so excited to be part of their huge worship choir. It is so neat to be a part of such a large sound. I am excited about the music we will be doing. I've already found several new friends and am looking forward to the retreat. If any of you are in this area, you may be interested to bring the kids out to The Great Egg Drop on March 31st. FBC will drop 10,000 candy-filled plastic eggs from a helicopter and there will lots of fun activities and food, etc. You can find info at the church's website www.fbcpc.com. Needless to say, my organizer is full for the next 2 months. But I am excited about everything God is working in our lives and all that I am learning right now. Hope all of you are finding joy and excitement in the daily blessings God so generously hands out.

DAILY BLISS: A powdered sugar covered mouth on my 2-year old as she enjoys her new-found love of those little Sweet Sixteen doughnuts. My 6-year old boy's growing interest in Jesus and having a relationship with Christ. We prayed together yesterday afternoon after he said the sweetest words to a mother's ear--"I want to be a Christian." It doesn't get much better than that.
ANGIE

Thought of you

Hey, C! Called you on Saturday (musta been during the haircut adventures) to tell you I spent the weekend thinking of you! Went to Gulf Shores, AL, and had fun with the church staff, but well... it was fun to revisit a secret-making place. Wished I was lookin up at stars with you, my friend!
B

What A Day!

Yesterday was quite a busy day. I meant to blog last night, but I fell asleep on accident. That pretty much never happens to me. Andrew had his final chess tournament of the year. This was the championship round. He did really well and wound up placing somewhere in the middle of his division, which is pretty good for a kid who's only played for about a year. The great thing about chess for him is that it isn't an activity that he can just jump into and kick everybody else's butt - like every other academic pursuit he jumps into. It takes patience and he has to really learn and practice. Here's Drew with his "Tournament Knight" award: This is the best picture you can get out of a nine-year-old. He doesn't like it when I whip out the camera.
Emma also had a big day. I was getting my hair done, and as she will be a flower girl soon (for probably the last time), I thought it was about time for her first real salon visit. She has been very excited, but a little nervous about getting her hair cut. Her hair is her pride and joy, you see. She actually told Jimmy Bob (Yes, that's my hair guy's name. What's even cooler is that he keeps his scissors in a gun holster.)not to cut out her "natural highlights." He promised he wouldn't, all the while suppressing a laugh. She also loved the shampoo bowl. A lot. Here's her face while her hair was getting washed:
I guess she was made for the glamorous life.







Here are the results of our Girls' Day in Tampa:

We also enjoyed a fresh fruit lunch on the porch, and I got to visit the craft store and play with paper. Both of those things were more renewing and refreshing than I can tell you. My bored little soul was so happy to do something beautiful.

DAILY BLISS: I took Emma to a wonderful shop in Hyde Park that sells hand-made soap. They actually bring out a knife and slice off a fresh chunk of whatever soap you choose. SO fun!

<3 Christy

My Paper Brain

I must admit, here, that I am having a measure of difficulty with blogging. This has not gone unnoticed by my loyal reader. Wait - Mom, I forgot about you - that's readers. And it's true. I am really frustrated at my inability to be interesting here. Here's what I think is the problem:
Normally, I keep lists and I keep a notebook. I don't use organizers because they are never set up in a way that makes sense to my brain. They have entire sections I would never use, and the ones I would use are not nearly big enough to fit all my words and lists. I usually just buy a little spiral-bound deal and add tabs to it that make sense to me. Nightly, or more often if needed, I sit down and dump out my brain into this notebook. It helps me to sleep. It also helps me not to forget things. I am prone to forget a lot of things. So, since the notebook contains all of my thoughts and mental tidbits, I call it my brain.
All of this is to say that I have not been using my paper brain lately. Thus, all my thoughts are jumbled up and buzzing around in my head. My head is getting very full. It's not that I'm more terribly busy than ever before. It's not that the usual stuff is not happening in my life. It's mostly, I think, that I can't seem to reach in there and grab something meaningful to write about. When I sit down and try to empty my brain anymore, all I can come up with is: need to buy flour and sugar this week, fold the laundry that is on the bed, don't forget about the Mother's Day project you're working on, and such like. In other words, my to-do list. And the to-do list is always the biggest category of my notebook.
So, bear with me. I haven't been to the grocery store in two weeks because I have no idea what to buy. We are subsisting on noodles and scrambled eggs. And sometimes toast. I promise that, if I get to the store this weekend, I'll buy a new notebook. Then I will perform a ceremonial brain dump. Then, maybe, I'll be interesting again. Maybe.

DAILY BLISS: Emma brought home a jar of worms today from school. And cherry pie.

<3 Christy

A Little Politics...

Today I heard an ambassador speak. She was ambassador to the UN, head of a delegation that brings recommendations to the UN about the advancement of women worldwide. Something she said really struck me. She told us about a proposal they brought to the UN last year in attempt to stop what she called “infanticide,” the killing of baby girls by abortion, simply because they are girls. She told how prevalent this activity is in other countries where families are encouraged by the government to limit the number of children they have, and where boy children are considered more valuable than girls. Here’s what’s interesting: Though abortion is legal in our country and most other ones, this group still considers the abortion of little girls “infanticide.” So it’s ok to abort any baby just because they aren’t convenient, but not ok to abort a baby due to its sex. Wait a minute. Wasn’t the feminist movement pivotal in the legalization of abortion? Wonder if they anticipated this future fight for the rights of unborn baby girls who are being killed because they are girls? I suppose that’s not what they meant by the right to choose. They wanted the right to choose to destroy any unborn child for any reason, but now it certainly rubs the wrong way to know that that choice to end a baby’s life could be based on its sex. Now I consider myself an evangelical feminist. I appreciate the honor and equality that the feminist movement has afforded for women. I just can’t help observing that anything taken to extreme is harmful. Here, we see the painful results of something the feminist movement held dear: the so-called right to choose twisted into something no feminist wants to hear or see. Definitely a thought worth pondering…

Three O'Clock

So, I walk around with vague suspicions in my subconscious all the time. Things that stir in me somewhere, but lie, unarticulated, for various spans of time. Occasionally they materialize as weird questions. One such suspicion did so today.
What is it with three o'clock? I mean...I leave work around 2:30 and it feels early in the day. I have a part-time job. This is a nice, early, leaving-work time. A good chunk of my day lies ahead of me. I can accomplish! I can DO! The world is at my fingertips! Well, maybe that's carrying it a bit too far....
But, driving back to town, sitting in the car line to get the kids, picking up the dog (who stays at my mom's house during the day because she has little seizures due to a nervous condition if left alone...I'll talk about this some other time...), and then turning to head toward home, always sweeps me well past three o'clock. Suddenly, then, at any point during this hour, I will look at the clock and realize that the day has slipped away from me. I barely will have time to supervise homework, cook dinner...blah, blah, blah....before it's time to put the kids in bed. I don't have any TIME to accomplish much! I don't have time to DO! What is the thing about three o'clock that allows it to suck the entire rest of your day out of your grasp?
If you ask normal people what time splits the day in half, they will probably say "noon." I say three o'clock.
I don't have any answers to this question....I just have the realization of one more thing that makes me weird.

DAILY BLISS: My husband came home today with his new glasses. Very handsome! I have taken to calling him "The Bespectacled One" just becuase I like how it sounds. Honestly, I'm a little jealous. I've always wanted glasses. I used to wear fake ones in high school sometimes.

<3 Christy

Camping

We just got back from our first-ever camping trip! I have remorsefully washed the wood smoke smell out of my hair, gotten a good cup of coffee and am now able to tell you about it. Wood smoke is on my list of all-time favorite smells. Probably, it's even in the top five. It always has been.
It's not that I haven't camped before. We used to camp often when I was a kid. In the Midwest. But up there, if there is a wilderness-reated injury lurking in the woods for you, you are likely to hear it coming - say, a black bear or a bobcat. Here, there are small creatures that take offensive positions in your shoes and sleeping bags. And they can maim or even kill you. You would never see it coming until it was TOO LATE. It's very devious. Poisonous snakes and spiders are the main reasons that I have not been camping since I was ten, which, coincidentally is the same age I was when we moved to Florida. Interesting.
Also, the woods have nice, loamy soil up north. And soft grass and moss. Here, we have mostly sand that likes to jump into your eyes. And our grass is pokey.
Anyway, our church decided to go camping again. We didn't join them the first time, and since we are pastors, we decided it would be good for us to go this time around. We bought a little tent. We showed up. And we had a really great time.
We all went kayaking (does that have two "k"s in the middle???), and Drew handled his very well.
I was impressed with my boy. My husband made lots of fire to impress me. I was very impressed with my husband.
And by the end of the first morning, I told my daughter that she looked like a muddy wilderness pixie. The amount of dirt on her is always directly proportionate to the amount of fun she has had.
We had some expert campers with us and we ate very well. I am now in love with the smell of bacon and wood smoke and coffee mixed together. That may crack my top ten list.

<3 Christy

The Mighty Mood Swing Strikes Again...

OK, remember a week or so ago when I was totally pumped about my daily accomplishments? I think I said something about it being "mighty good" to be a woman. I still hold to that belief. I'm also still riding that invisible thrill ride that IS femininity. Guess it started unraveling a couple of days ago. I left the height of the swing and started the stomach-dropping descent in the other direction. First, an illogical emotional breakdown resulting in an unneccessary and unfortunate "discussion" with my lover (who amazingly still loves me!). Then comes the aching exhaustion, tight knot of apprehension, and the crushing feeling that I'm totally swimming upstream in serious danger of drowning in everything I have to do. Last week, it was exhilarating accomplishment. This week, it's forced and frustrating.

I've never been one for roller coasters. I prefer something that spins, myself. The heights and drops of roller coasters just don't interest me. Yet, I live in heights and plummets that would rival the most daunting thrill ride. Thank God, my man is a thrill-seeker who can literally stomach any roller coaster, and evidently he's pretty good at emotional ones too.

Here's my question... One would think, as many times as I've gone on this ride, that I'd know what was coming. Yet almost every time, I screw up royally by hurting someone else before I realize, Oh! I'm on the downswing! Dang! I missed it again!! If only I could have seen it coming and remembered to acknowledge it to myself. Then, I'd be prepared for it and I could at least warn someone before I spew on them, if not keep myself from spewing altogether, knowing that the swirl of emotions is just part of the swing, and I need to take some extra time to sort through what I feel before I give it clearance to come out. But, no, I wait until post-mental-breakdown to realize that most of it is just an emotional surge that will pass.

Ah well... I guess what we have here is proof of how desperately I need the mercy God extends to me... and the mercy my loved ones dole out too! One of these days, I'm gonna learn to throw up my hands and find the thrill in this crazy coaster. In the meantime, maybe I better start marking my calendar...

In other news, I had a "What in the name?" moment ("what in the name?" is Levi's newest favorite expression): Today, my daughter is home from school, so I've seen a bit more morning TV than normal. OK, there's a new barbie out. She has a DOG. It gets worse. Someone is actually SELLING a Barbie dog that POOPS!! Tell me, what is marketable about this? The plastic toy doggie poops out little brown tic-tac looking things and the kids can play Barbie scoops up the dog poo and puts it in the can!!! I'm minding my own business, and just happen to look up at the TV in time to see this plastic dog do it's business while two happy little kids help Barbie scoop it up.

There is one good thing about this obnoxious toy. At least it portrays Barbie living real life! Doing something mundane and normal, albeit disgusting, instead of simply going to the mall, to the pool, to a party, and back to the mall. I have to wonder, though. Are they de-glamorizing Barbie? Or are they really thinking that poop scooping can be glitzed up as an enjoyable part of the Barbie lifestyle? Confusing though it may be, it brought a chuckle to my face! Maybe they should come out with "Toilet cleaning Barbie" or "Fold the laundry Barbie" I'd BUY those!!

-Becky

A Momentous Occasion

We have had a dangling tooth in the family for several days now. The owner of said tooth has been in hysterics every time I have approached HER mouth, so the tooth has stayed right in place. This is her first one. After much hollering and protesting and violent tears, I managed to wiggle the thing out without her realizing it this evening. She was so busy screaming "don't pull it!" that she didn't even realize I had pulled it right out. There have been many phone calls to relatives and interested parties about the loss of Emma's first tooth this evening.
I thought that I'd share a picture here....I apologize for the graphic nature of her empty tooth socket. Also for the green marker on her chin.




So anyway, my mother-in-law kindly pointed out to me in her wistful way that my babies are growing up. I was really trying not to focus on that aspect of The Event. But since she brought it up, this is the last time I'll have said milestone in my home - the first lost tooth, I mean. She's my last baby. Sigh.
Okay. I'm done with that.

DAILY BLISS: Eating dinner on the living room floor. Well, we used plates We just didn't sit at the table.

<3 Christy

Another Manic Monday...

My mind is swirling! It's 9:27 and I'm still high on adrenaline. Maybe it's Monday that does this to me... I did have another of those action packed days, and I'm feeling totally pumped about it. Things are moving forward professionally for me, thankya Jesus! I heard from my publisher today!! They've chosen a title for my book and they've started the cover design. It's taken a year to get to this stage, so I'm SUPER happy to see it move another step forward. A baby step, yes, but a step closer to the bookstore shelf nonetheless!

Speaking of books, another book idea happened upon Kathy and me, and we are cramming a proposal together for her to take to a national writer's conference at the end of this month. This, on top of the book swirling around in my heart and my email inbox co-written with Christy, plus recording podcasts, plus working on a weekday presentation for businesses (gotta work on that income level), plus passing twelve more hours of insurance continuing ed so that I can renew my agent's license. I haven't even thought of counseling class and what I will choose as the LIVEChat topic this week... it's all got me headed in so many different mental directions! I LOVE IT!!

I also got totally blessed with the opportunity to have my first book and cd's for sale and my information at Kathy's speaker table this weekend at a really large women's event. I'm praying the Lord will multiply this, for one because I love what I do and two because as much as I hate the business end of things I do need to bring in an income!

I also have a bit of news to share. I had the Cinna-stax pancakes at IHOP tonight and let me tell ya... it's bliss. Cinnamon in obscene amounts will cure whatever ails ya, I always say. (Actually I've never said that before, but I HAVE always wanted to write something including the phrase "I always say...") The only thing that could have made those cinnamon-ey cakes more wonderful, is eating them with Christy at one of our midnight mom rendezvous. (How do you pluralize that word? One would think that a writer would know this, but alas, I do not. Rendezvouses? Rendezvous'? Good Lord, who knows...) At any rate, I am in dire need of one of our midnight trips to IHOP, my friend. I know we'd laugh too loud and stay too long and we'd say cuss words if we wanted to and for a while we'd philosophize like the deep, creative women we are. Oh, I miss you, my friend!! But I'm so grateful for the connection that modern technology affords us in between face to face encounters!

Well, I'm still sprinting in my brain, but my body is aching in a way that tells me it needs to rest. For now... so long!

-Becky

Average

Today, I lost myself in a silly novel - a one-sitting read. I love to read to learn and I love to read something that makes me think in a different way about something. This wonderfully indulgent way to spend an afternoon, though (reading without learning or even really thinking), is like chocolate. Really fun, but not good for you unless it's taken in moderately. But any of you who know me at all know how much I like chocolate. It's almost as much as shoes.
The pollen is driving me crazy right now. My headache is begging for me to tune it out with some TV. Alas, no such remedy will be tolerated during Lent. Probably, we will make this TV fast a habit. We caught up on the two or three shows we really hate to miss over the weekend, and we gained a lot of time during the rest of the week. Good stuff all the way around.
I'm struggling for anything more to say on this, another in a string of average days. It seemed that several things struck me today as something good to blog about, but they are gone now. Ahhhh well.

DAILY BLISS: The skirt I wore today has these little pleats at the hem, but only on the sides. They kick out and swing around my knees when I walk. It's super-fun in the same way that a twirly dress is fun when you're six.

<3 Christy

New Babies

Now, I know what you're thinking based on the title, but it's not that. Where to begin....?
Today was the perfect day for landscaping. The clouds were low and fluffy and grey. When I was running my weekend errands, I felt like I was driving around under a wool blanket. Really. So, it was a little rainy and a little cloudy and breezy. The wind chimes were going about their busy singing and I decided it was time to plant some stuff.
This will come a shock to most of you - it always does when someone finds this out about me - I am not good with plants. I know, I know - it seems a domestic goddess such as myself would naturally have a way with all things growing and fresh. Sadly, it's just not something I can do.
But, I've had my eye on these shrubs, you see. They are called tropical snow bushes or something like that. The lovely thing about them is that, while most of the leaves are green, the new leaves come out all pink and cute. I thought these colors would perfectly complement the door and porch I have worked so hard to design and paint (see many of my previous posts for info on the porch....!). These plants have been in stock everywhere, it seems. I frequent Lowes, Home Depot and Wal Mart. Their garden centers are always full of them. Not today. I made three stops before I found them. But I brought them home with me at last.
I am not exactly rolling around in money, so I had to buy the baby-sized bushes. Thus my title. They are very cute. I got my fingers all wonderfully muddy and stuck my toes in the dirt too. I talked to my new babies and told them how long I had been waiting for them to come and how I was going to be very nice to them. I gently eased them out of their pots and secured them in the flower bed with more wonderful black dirt (You have to buy black dirt here. The naturally-occurring earth is mostly sand.) and tucked them in with a warm blanket of mulch. They look so precious! I almost started singing a lullaby, but I wondered what the neighbors might think.
Anyway, my toes and hands got a healthy scrubbing afterward, leaving them rosy and squeaky. Maybe this gardening stuff isn't so bad. I enjoyed it, which is good, because I'm sure these cute shrubs will die in my care and I will get to do the whole thing over in a month or two.

DAILY BLISS: Ben & Jerry's Berried Treasure sorbet!

<3 Christy

A Clean House

Have you ever found pure joy in a clean house? I am today. Is that pathetic? When I was a teenager, I always though I'd have a big career and exciting life by the time I was 29 (rapidly pushing towards 30). I did 4 loads of laundry, vaccummed the entire house, cleaned my kids rooms including their closets, two full bathrooms, the kitchen and dusted the living room. It took the whole morning, but it feels great to sit back and look at it now. Pure joy! Do I have some undiagnosed suburban mom illness? Hmmmm
We are all going to the Strawberry Festival this afternoon with my Mom and Dad. We are so lucky to get great seats for the concerts we want because my uncle is a "redcoat". That means he works his tail off in agriculture at the festival and gets to wear a red jacket to events and get tickets to the shows. We get to see Mark Lowry, one of the funniest people I have ever seen. It will be John's (my hubby) first time to see him and I am sure he will enjoy it. I'll let you all know how much fun we have so you can all be exceedingly jealous. HEEHEE
Well girls, thanks for your comments on my blog the other day. I'm glad to know someone is interested in my little life. Gotta get ready to go.
Angie

Fun Fair Photos

<3 Christy

Family Fun Fair

As I mentioned before, today was the Family Fun Fair at the kids' school. I never did get a pony ride, but I discovered that I may have missed my calling to be a carnie. I got to be in charge of a game for both kids' classes for a time slot and had a lot of fun. Emma's class, the kindergarten, had the haystack. This is where children launch themselves into a massive pile of hay and throw it into each others' eyes. Sometimes they accidentally throw one of toys that was hidden in there. Then they all dive into the hay and fight over who gets it. It was a very windy day. The haystack was maybe a bad idea.

I also supervised a riding toy race for Andrew's class which everybody thought was lame until my latent talent showed up. I got a couple of racers and put on my best announcer voice and had them all line up. I said, "On your mark....get set.....goober (or any other word that's kind of gross and starts with "g")! Then told them all that they had to line back up again. Then I said go. I didn't give any medals to cheaters and loudly congratulated the winners. Our game was very popular, very suddenly.
Emma loved the big inflatable obstacle course and Drew was really into the gyrosphere or whatever you call that ride. Reference the pictures below.






<3 Christy

Thirty one and havin' fun!! (winner of the corniest titles contest)

Well, I'm 31 today. I rather enjoy my thirties so far. Thirty is young enough to be young and old enough to be taken seriously. I'm inspired by my kids' birthday "gift" for me. They very thoughtfully removed key pictures from my photo albums (including taking an entire page out of my wedding album) and taped the pictures together in succession. Starting with a picture of Matthew and me at prom, our wedding, Mackenzie's birth, Levi's birth, and ending with the christmas shot we took this past December. It's sort of a little photo time line they scotch taped together. I suppose at every birthday, I look back at where I've been over the past year, and look ahead to where I hope to go. Truth be told, I love where I am right now. And... I hope this doesn't sound wrong, but I'm liking who I'm becoming. I can definitely look back over the last decade of my life and see that God has sanded away some splintery parts of me, and He has burned away some of the trash. I've survived some things I never thought I'd face.

My marriage is a living miracle. We've been to hell and back. (BACK being the key word there.) We've stayed together through something that causes most people to give up...or if they don't give up, they never find happiness again. But here we are, happy and whole. I don't know if our story will ever be for the telling, but for now it serves to constantly remind me that there IS a God and He IS at work in me. I'm better for the pain we went through. We both are. In fact, I'm not sure I want to know who I am without the lessons I learned in that darkness.

I'm chasing two of the cutest, sweetest, funniest kids around my house. I'm watching my girl grow into a beautiful lady. I'm watching my son develop the wit and charm that will one day make him an unbelievable catch. I love those kids.

I've survived the worst hurricane in U.S. History. I've made it through 12 years as a minister's wife. I've seen my Dad through heart surgery and a major stroke. I've watched my sister go through terrible hurt and then find amazing happiness again. My brother has taken something nobody thought would make him a living and he's made a living at it. I've built a house and sold it. I've had a jacuzzi tub and I've had a scummy seminary bathroom. I've written two books, and survived a life threatening blood clot. I've been betrayed, I've learned to forgive. I've got life changing friendships that bring incredible joy to me. I've let go of expectations and let myself fall into the passion God has placed inside me for speaking, writing, and helping hurting women. I love my life! I love where my Jesus is taking me! No way has it been easy, but man, have I seen Him come alive in me!!

And just think, this ride is just gettin' started. I'm 31, baby! Thirty-one, thankya, Jesus. Thirty one!!!

-Becky

One Thing I'm Good At

I kicked my husband's heinie at Scrabble last night. I managed to several double word scores and at least one triple something.....it's a little fuzzy. I was drunk with the sensation of victory. I usually beat him at Scrabble, though. Not that he isn't a worthy opponent - it usually comes right down to the end before a winner emerges. Not so last night. My score was 239!! Maybe this is good, maybe it's not. I am not a professional Scrabble player. I just know it's good as far as my scoring history goes. He has requested a rematch.
This rash of board games is due to that afore-mentioned Lenten TV fast. It's been beneficial so far. More face-time with the DH definitely reduces my stress level.
Tomorrow is an exciting day. The kids' school hosts an annual Family Fun Fair for which I always am a volunteer. Chris will be too. I get to supervise an inflatable game thing for Andrew's class, and the haystack game for Emma's class. The haystack game is an incredibly itchy one. I don't know what Chris will be doing. But there will be pony rides. I'm SO going on one of those!

DAILY BLISS: All the orange trees are blossoming! I'm pretty sure that's what Heaven is going to smell like.

<3 Christy