christmas is overrated

Okay, hear me out: "Christ"mas is not overrated - christmas is overrated. I have decided that as a relational follower of Jesus Christ (as opposed to a religious follower) I get jipped at Christmas. The whole idea behind Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Christ. I do that most of the year through. I will not be so vain as to say I am thankful for His birth daily; however, I do verbally recognize and offer my thanksgiving for the birth of Christ often. As I have grown older in my role of motherhood, Mary's position and predicament burden my mind often. I love Christmas. I love that "ordinary" radio stations play music written about the birth of Christ. I love the silly ones and the meaniningful ones. I heard John 3:16 being quoted on 101.5! I love the lights and decorations. I love buying and giving gifts. I love trying to study a person and listen to find out little things that would show them I care. I love adopting a family - getting my children excited about giving something they often take for granted. I love sending and receiving Christmas cards to hang on my wall. I love Christmas. However, here is the part where I feel jipped; it takes me a LONG time to get all of these things done so that I can just sit and ponder, sit and marvel, sit and wonder. In fact, it takes me so long that by the time I am ready - all the world has stopped. The music is gone, the lights are out, trees down, gifts returned - no one cares about the good-will of others. The warm - fuzzy feeling is gone. Why? - is what I want to scream! Okay, I understand the music - (although I have to confess every now and again I slip that Christmas CD in just for a pick-me-up), I also understand the decorations and lights. As for gifts - people all around us still love gifts - I am not talking Xbox type gifts - a call to see how they are doing, taking an unused cart, speaking kindly to the wal-mart cashier, etc. And the cards - how long has it been since just sending a real card to someone you care about - a card you have to think about purchasing (or hand designing) and you have to actually go to a post office to mail it. And that adoptive family - they don't just have needs at Christmas. The family we helped out this year is a single mother of three young children. She has a full-time job, manages her money carefully, takes all of her responsibilities seriously yet she cannot pay her bills each month. Yes, this girl needs more financial income but she also needs prayer, an occasional free babysitter, a mentor. But I can't do those things - Christmas is over. According to the world, it abruptly stopped December 25 at midnight. The Cinderella world officially turned back into a pumpkin. I sure am glad I celebrate "Christ"mas and not christmas or I would officially be depressed.

Divorce

Divorce is a topic that has been bugging me lately. Recently, through facebook, I discovered an old friend who married his childhood sweetheart. I had even seen them and their two cute little boys in my hometown a few years ago. Well, imagine my surprise when I looked through this "friend's" pictures that the caption that read my heart, my life, my best friend, my wife was not the same girl I knew. I was terribly sad and heartbroken for them. Now, they are not really my "friends" and I know nothing about their life, their circumstances, nothing. However, I could not imagine watching my husband be married to another woman. I could not imagine passing him in the grocery store knowing he once knew every intimate detail about me.
This past Sunday, our lesson was on the Proverbs 31 woman. I teach 6th grade girls. We were discussing choices; choices in choosing our friends, choices in choosing our romantic interests; choices in who/what we want to be. We were discussing how in the passage King Lemuel's father had to have seen some of these qualities in his "girlfriend" before she became his wife and the mother of his children. Many of them started telling me the courtship of their mother and father. There was one girl who told of her parents courtship like she was watching a fairytale movie. Then she added, they were married 12 years. My mom got engaged to someone else last weekend. Poof, Cinderella gone Nightmare.
I know divorce happens. My parent's got divorced when I was 2. Ryan's parents divorced after 26 years. But why? Why is happily ever after so difficult? I was discussing this with my children, who have friends that are currently being torn through a terrible he said/she said battle of their parents. After a few moments Owen replied, "it's all Eve's fault." He hit the nail on the head. It is all about sin. Satan would love nothing more than to rip our families to shreds, to shatter our trust in other people, to destroy our faith. Satan can make "the grass on the other side" look so tempting. Marriage takes selflessness, sacrifice, determination, and hard work. Everyone wants to live "happily ever after." I guess the truth is in how you define "happier." If it's okay, I prefer to stay "happy, happier, happiest" with the one I've got! :)

Little gifts

I was going to show pictures of the kids at their Black belt graduation; but I am not. I was going to show you pictures of my beautiful Thanksgiving table; but I am not. I was going to tell you how overwhelmed I feel by my schedule, my calendar, my family, my Christmas-to-do lists; but I am not. Instead, I am going to tell you of a wonderful gift I received. Due to all the things above, I have not been sleeping well and for some reason, my filing cabinet has been bugging me. It is way too full of stuff I no longer need. So, I have been going through folder by folder getting rid of stuff I no longer need or duplicate pages. Every year when each of my children were in Kindergarten, we put up a huge turkey, cut out a million feathers and mailed them to friends and family of that child's choice with directions for them to write what they are thankful for and for them to mail it back to us. We get those feathers in the mail and tape them to our turkey. Since last year was my last Kindergarten turkey, I decided it would be fun to take the picture of every one's turkey and those feathers and put them in a scrap book. It is very cool to see how people's blessings changed from Emily to Ian. Well, I couldn't find Owen's feathers. I had a very distinct flash-back to sitting on the garage floor at my old house with the file folder of feathers in my hand. I put them in the trash, I took them out of the trash. When I couldn't find them, I assumed I must have left them in the trash. You see, I do not like junk. I am a junk a phobic. However, I am a sap for nostalgia. I was crushed that I let my state of overwhelmed with junk and a small house, persuade me throw out these precious feathers. I am sure the conversation went something like this: "I might want to do something with these one of these days" Only to which I would answer myself "Yeah, right, you are never going to do anything but let this pile up into more and more junk. Besides, you probably threw Emily's away too." Well, a few nights ago, I was going through my December folder and purging the things I no longer wanted. And there, in the December folder in a smaller folder labeled "foil names" were Owen's feathers. I was so glad to see them. You would have thought it would have been some long lost relative. I know this sounds crazy but I could have cried. I felt pure joy and relief at having these feathers in my hands. I didn't ponder (too long) or beat myself up as to why they were in the wrong folder under the wrong name and I didn't have anyone to tell (because they were all asleep) and even if they were up they would not have the same appreciation for these feathers that I have mourned over for the past 5 years. I would like to say I immediately made my scrapbook - I didn't. However, I did get out all 4 of our feather folders and read them and prayed over them and put them all together in ONE folder with each folder labeled correctly. I hope and pray that I never stop rejoicing and praising Him for the small, simple, pleasures of life He bestows upon me; and that I never come to the point where I don't recognize that they are from Him.

The Weekend!

Disciple Now was this weekend. We have been a host home for Disciple Now for 4 years, for Emily's group. Since this is the first year we have had two in the youth group, we decided to host Owen's group, sixth grade boys. Last year, we had 9th grade girls; needless to say, switching from 9th grade girls to 6th grade boys was quite a culture shock. I have to admit that I was a little nervous. We get college-aged small group leaders and they stay the weekend as well. Truth be told, I was even more nervous when I was given the list of said leaders. I didn't know either of them personally. However, they did a fabulous job. As you will see, they had no problems "connecting" with the boys.
This is a game of football on Saturday. We were so thankful that the rain stopped long enough for them to be outside for a while. There was ALOT of energy!
This is the mastermind "huddle."

In the middle of all of this, Owen and I had to go to Kernersville for his first gymnastics meet. He did very well. He came in 7th place overall and his team came in 3rd place. We left on Saturday around 2 and got back at almost midnight. The lady that so generously let us ride with her so that Ryan could keep the van, hit a deer on her way home. She was fine, the deer was fine, the van - not so much.

This is a prime example of the small group leader "connecting" with the boys. They were getting ready for bed, yeah right! :) One of the other major differences between the girls and boys was during the night (when all were sleeping) with girls you would hear a giggle here and there; with boys you hear laughing followed by a crash. At which, I get to elbow Ryan and send him downstairs.

This was their other favorite past time. I knew it was a perfect match when the boys were asking Owen on the way home what sort of gaming system he had. Ryan had connected the playstation to the projector so they could play the game on the wall. One of the small group leaders came with his own gaming system and games and controllers! One group was playing one game downstairs and another group was playing upstairs. Nope, you don't get that with girls.

They did branch out and play something other than football and video games. Ryan had gotten a big stack of games out (the girl's favorites) and the boys played this one over and over.

On Saturday the boys had to do a service project. We, with a little help from my friend Beth, decided to make care packages for soldiers. We were uncertain of the weather and couldn't see the boys being entranced by "baking cookies." They got into the soldier project. Ryan and the two small group leaders went to Wal-mart to buy needed supplies. I can only imagine the scene in wal-mart. Apparently, three boys decided to use their own money to buy a couple of Amp drinks they were trying to drink at 11:00 pm! The sleepy father figure in Ryan promptly took all the amps away.

Here is our group. We had a few that didn't show at all and one who had been assigned to the wrong grade. All in all, I thought it was a great weekend. I think the kids did too. One boy wanted to know if he could come back home with us when church was over. One boy commented that he thought it would be cool to have a Disciple Now month instead of Disciple Now Weekend. I think the powers that be are very wise to keep it to one weekend, once a year. Sign me up for next year!

A good laugh at myself

Okay, so tonight I was waiting for Owen to get out of gymnastics. He has his first meet of the season coming up this weekend and he has been very anxious over the fact that he does not feel as prepared as he would liketo be going into the first meet. The routines change every three years. He moved up a level last year; which was the last year with that routine. So, this is two years in a row he has had to learn a new routine. However, unlike last year, everyone is learning a new routine this year. Anyway, I went in to watch him work out. He doesn't like me to just "stare" so I picked up a magazine to wait and "watch." I was really just skimming the articles when I came across one that was in the connections section. The subtitle read: 'You are cordially invited to join our lovely hostess/columnist for her latest nervous breakdown...uh, we mean party. The article was about this lady that could not, despite her best efforts host a pleasant dinner party. When asking her significant other his opinion as to why she couldn't host a proper dinner party this was his reply: "The only thing you're doing wrong is constantly striving to do everything exactly right and you drive yourself and everybody else nuts trying to achieve it." She sits back and reflects on what he says. This is her conclusion: She says, "I know he's right. I am part geisha girl, part drill sergeant, with just a soupcon of control freak thrown in for good measure. I want everyone to relax and have a good time, but that has to start with me, and I am about as laid back as a caged hummingbird guzzling a can of Red Bull while awaiting biopsy results. You can keep your medication, your reflexology, your gin, your tonics - I'm just not the mellow type." For some odd reason, (certainly NOT because I could identify with it) this image struck me as hilariously funny; about as laid back as a caged humming bird guzzling a can of Red Bull.... I wonder if this lady has ever been at my house BEFORE a party! :)

Expectations

Expectations for some people is a heavy word. I,personally, buckle under expectations. I cannot handle the pressure. I have discovered a nasty fact about me these past few weeks. I am a people pleaser. Now don't get too excited, I am not an EVERYONE people pleaser. If I don't know you or don't like you - I don't care what you think - good, bad, ugly. However, if I care about you, I want to please. The closer you are to me, the worse it is. Ryan and I went to a marriage conference last weekend. It was a very good conference and we enjoyed the time together. One of the speakers said something that has affected me. He said the difference between who you are and who you want to be is a land called disappointment. Ouch. This is where my struggle comes in - how to you strive to be Christ-like in a dismal, fallen world without losing sight of the fact that we were all born a sinner. I am never going to be perfect, no matter how hard I try, no matter how much I want to be. How do you balance those "expectations" without going overboard? I have always thought it to be a pride issue and I know on some scale it is. Yet, I am now realizing that it is not pride that makes me push to succeed. I want to be a good steward of all the blessings God has given me. I want to be the best at all the things He has called me to be. (Un)Fortunately, He has called me to be a lot of things: wife, mother, teacher, friend, sister, daughter, maid, cook, taxi driver, etc, etc. Don't get me wrong, I am blessed beyond measure to be called and equipped to do/be all of these things. As I am getting older, I am seeing a direct correlation between my perfectionism and my procrastination. I procrastinate because I cannot do it "perfectly". Over time, I see that turning me into a quitter; giving up because I don't want to be a disappointment. For many years I have said that my tombstone was going to say "She tried" because I really do try. This week I was reading an article about Billy Graham in the paper and it said that Ruth Graham's headstone said: "End of Construction -- Thank you for your patience." I think that is beautiful. When I was in elementary school, I had a red notebook that said "Please be patient, God is not finished with me yet." I loved that notebook (obviously, I am blogging about it 30 years later:)). I guess that is the key, being willing to be patient and willing to be under construction and willing to step over all the mess and take all the detours that construction requires until we are at the "end of construction." How desperately I want to live this life so that I will hear "well done, thy good and faithful servant."

Football

Owen loves football. I have often said that if you cut Ryan open, he would bleed taxes. Well, Owen would bleed football. He loves to play football, he loves to watch football, he loves to talk football. Several years ago we let him play flag football with the Homeschool Football League. It was a wonderful organization. However, over time, the practice location kept getting moved further and further away and due to other commitments, Owen quit playing. He begged every year to play contact football. I was worried over his size and every year the practice days conflicted with gymnastics. But this year, he had some other friends that were playing in the league and told us that the practice was on Tuesday and Thursday which would not interfere with gymnastics at all. After much begging (on Owen's & Ryan's part) I agreed we would try it just ONCE! I have to say, I am still impressed with the league and as always I am very impressed by Owen. He really got out there and did his best. He was one of the few that the coach did not already know. It was really cool to watch the transformation of being on the sidelines to being part of the "team." This is a picture of Owen before the first game:
Owen is the one nearly doing a split while in position for the ball to be hiked. We could always tell which one was one - the one nearly on the ground:

I love this picture. I don't exactly know why; that is Owen #66. They just seem so "manly":

This is a picture after the game:

The football season is over now. The conference game was Saturday; after being ranked 2nd all season, they came in 4th in the play-offs. Ryan and I were out of town and missed the game. We got home Sunday to a very disappointed boy. He didn't take the loss like a man. He took the loss like a broken-hearted 11 year old boy - he wept and wept and wept and wept. He wept for the lost game, he wept because we had missed it, he wept because the season was over. Then, he felt much better and all was well in our little corner of the world.

A little of this and a little of that

Well, I am still planning on posting the details of Ian's party. I cannot believe it has been a week. This weekend was just as busy as last. Friday we had co-op (it was my week to teach), subtesting (for Emily and Owen's black belt testing), and Saturday we had Owen's football game. All of those activities were consecutively boom, boom, boom. We didn't get home until midnight Friday night and then had to leave at 9:45 the next morning to go to the game. The Father/Son campout was this weekend as well. This is something my boys (all three of them) look forward to all year. However, in our "something has got to give" campaign; that was what got cut. Unfortunately, this was more for Owen's benefit than Ian's. Ian carried the longer lasting disappointment. So, because we had gotten home so late on Friday night, we decided to postpone our Friday Family night to Saturday night so that we could enjoy it a little more. After the game on Saturday, we were able to come back home. After a few stops, we got home around 4. We decided to play a game of kickball before supper. My dad and the little girl across the road made the teams 4 against 4. We had a great time. Then, we came in for pizza and movies. On Friday's we eat on the floor and sleep all together on a big mattress on the middle of the living room floor. We bought a projector last year and watch our bedtime movie on the wall. Well, Ian's movie was scratched so we were just messing around after supper and then the kids went to get on their pj's and Ryan went to bake the cookies (not from scratch - just pull of the paper and place on the pan). Anyway, Ian had gotten out his bubble blower thing but it wouldn't work. He got out a different bottle and started blowing bubbles. His bottle was one of the one's that doesn't spill. The new bottle he spilt all over the floor in just opening it. So, we poured out his old bubble stuff and put in the new. Ryan had my ipod playing in the kitchen and I handed the bubble bottle back to him. Rather than taking the bottle, he stood there ready to attack bubbles. So, I did a very uncharacteristic thing for me - I blew bubbles! I blew and blew and blew. My sweet baby popped and popped and popped. He did chops, he did punches, he did kicks, he tried to eat them, he blocked them. We blew and popped bubbles for 20 minutes. I know to most of you are probably thinking, "yeah, so?" At that moment, with Ian in the kitchen, I was the kind of mother I WANT to be. I didn't fuss about the bubble stuff getting on the floor, I didn't blow once or twice and then quit, I didn't give suggestions for him to do something other than what he was doing. We just blew bubbles. I felt like my heart would burst. I cannot exactly identify why - if it is because he is my baby and I am not sure how I feel about that, and he is getting so big; if it was because my family was near and we were just us being us; if it was at that moment, I felt so undeniably blessed. I guess it was a combination of all of those things. I know for that moment, I wanted to pause time. I wanted to hold on so tight to all of them and never let go. Then Ryan burst into my daydreaming and says "the cookies are ready to decorate." Ian so sweetly pats me on the arm, gives me a wink and says "good blowin', ma" and runs off to argue over which color sprinkle goes on which cookie and who gets to decorate how many. Where does the time go?!

Happy Birthday, My baby!

This is my baby in December 2002. He has a worried look on his face. My mom has always said he looked like a worried old man. Ian is such a sweet boy. We found out later that the name Ian means "Gift from God." He definitely is. I cannot believe it has been 6 years. My, how time flies. He had an awesome "Indiana Jones" party today. It was a lot of fun. I will post pictures of the day later.

This is a picture of Ian today. He had begged and pleaded for a pet for months. He wanted a guinea pig, then a rat, then a rabbit, then back to a rat. However, I am not a pet person and wanted to get him a STUFFED pet. So, Ryan sensibly decided on a bird. Owen has a bird and Ian handles his a lot. This is a picture of Ian and his pet "Puffin."

Moving On

Well, I always knew I was a topical kind of person: when my topic ran out, the blogging stopped. Actually, there have been several things/times when I started a post and either changed my mind or had to go do something else. Here where just a few of the highlights I was going to share of what's been going on the past two weeks: 1 - Emily had a great birthday party. It was laid back, low key and a lot of fun. I think all of the kids (and parents) enjoyed themselves. At first, she was a little nervous that it would not feel like a "party." 2 -I had a great birthday as well. It was on a Sunday so it was a little busy because of all our commitments. Ryan, the kids and my dad went in together and got me a recliner. We had one my parents had given us the Christmas before Owen was born but it was broken and BLUE so it didn't make the "new house" cut. Emily and Ryan went to pick it out - they even took a couch pillow to match. They came home with a beige chair (my couch is an olive color). I took it back the next day and exchanged it for a burgundy colored chair. The lady saw me walk in the door and commented that "she thought I would be back." I hated it do it - I really wanted to keep the one they bought - I just couldn't do it. I tried, I really did. However, I was very careful to make sure I got the same chair - just a different color. I have to say that I have not been in it that much but the kids are definitely enjoying it. Ian is convinced we got it for the sole purpose of rocking him! :) Not at night, just for little spells here and there. 3- All of the kids activities are in full swing. Owen had his first football game Saturday before last. He played a great game and is loving it. Emily's Chemistry class and choir has started back. They are both preparing for their 2nd degree black belts in November, so there is a huge amount of training and preparation that goes into that as well as everything else we already have going on. It feels as though every moment of my day is so structured that one idle minute and it is all a wash. I am like the princess in bug's life: "There is a gap in the line - what are we going to do!? There is a GAP in MY line!" My life has become one big "gap" that is spinning at a break-neck pace. I am coming to the conclusion that due to my control-oriented nature (I am saving that for another post later) chaos is God's way of keeping me reigned in and totally dependent on Him.

Happy Birthday Emily - Part 15

This is Emily's 15th Birthday. We will be having her party later this weekend. We are going to Red Robin this afternoon for a birthday lunch. At this point in our lives, lunch was much easier to arrange. Ryan is going to take a lunch break and meet us there. This picture is of Emily this morning after we had gotten home from the DMV. She was so nervous I thought her head was going to explode. Luckily, the man started joking and asking her questions so she tempered down a bit. I made her drive around the Food Lion parking lot and then I let her drive home. It wasn't too bad. She is very cautious. There was one guy on a moped making me a little nervous but she did good. I think I was more concerned about what bite me in Ryan's car than her driving! :) Ryan took the truck this morning so that she could drive the car. I am not ready for her to drive the van yet. I want her to practice a little before hitting the open road.

On one hand, I cannot believe she is 15; on the other hand, she seems so much older. She is one of the most terrific people I know. She is kind, intelligent, sensitive, cautious, and beautiful on the inside and out. She is a great, loyal, caring friend, sister, and daughter. I have been so blessed in the fact that I was chosen to be her mother. I hope she has learned a fraction from me what I have learned from her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY!

Happy Birthday Emily - Part 13 & 14

This is Emily's 13th birthday. Next to her fourth, this was my favorite. We decided to have an Emmy/Oscar party. Once again, I was ahead of my time. There was NOTHING with any hint of this theme. You can find it everywhere now! Anyway, we decided the girls would make a movie or talent of their choice. One of my biggest regrets in life is that the first 6 minutes of this priceless video got recorded over. We have never reused a video tape again. After the talent/movie show, we got dressed for the award ceremony. We had gone to the Goodwill and purchased several party dresses and some of the girls brought dresses from their closets. They "shopped" and picked out a dress. My mom and sister-in-law came to do hair and make-up, my dad did nails. (For those of you that do not know - my dad is/was a nail technician.) Then we rolled out the red carpet and Ryan "announced" each girl as they came down the stairs. Unfortunately, I don't think we took a group shot of all the girls when they were dressed up. We took an individual picture as they came down the stairs. After the awards (everyone shared their favorite memory with Emily) we had the party and danced the night away. At the end of the video, everyone wished Emily a Happy Birthday. It was great.

This is Emily's 14th Birthday. We decided to have a mystery party. I decided against purchasing pre-who-dun-it type scenario cards. By mid-night the evening before the party, I was wishing that I had. We had asked the girls to come dressed as a profession. It was not quite like I wanted it to be; but, I tried. The girls were great sports and I think they had a great time anyway!

Happy Birthday Emily - Part 10, 11, & 12

This is Emily's 10th Birthday. She was in a crazy horse phase. So, since she was hitting the double digits, we decided to do something "big." We went horseback riding. And when I say we, I mean we. It was the last time I have been on a horse. Mine was crazy and took off down the creek (with me still on its back) and the little guide girl saying "Don't scream - it scares the horse!" Scare the horse, yeah right! We still laugh about that memory quite often.

This was Emily's 11th birthday. We had a doggie theme. They groomed their dogs, created dog bowls and got their nails done. The nails had nothing to do with dogs - it just became a tradition. I think nails have been done at every birthday since.

This is Emily's 12th Birthday party. We had an Asian theme. We went to see Sky High. A friend was doing a school project with a "Flat Zoie" that is why there is a paper doll in the picture.

Happy Birthday Emily - Part 7, 8, & 9

This is Emily's 7th birthday. This would be the beginning of a LONG line of slumber parties! In fact, I think she has had at least a few friends stay over every birthday since then. We made and decorated pillow cases, had a fashion show, and stayed up VERY late! It was a lot of fun.

This is Emily's 8th birthday. She had a fishing/camp out party. I don't exactly remember how this one came to be except for the fact that she wanted a tent for her birthday. Mr. Elton volunteered (sort of) to take the girls (and Owen & Andrew) fishing. They went to the pond that was behind the church. It is more like a marsh now than a pond. Anyway, you can see all the fish they caught. After fishing, they came back to our house cooked out on the grill (no, not the fish!), swam in the pool and camped in the tent outside. Luckily, the weather held out and it didn't rain.

This is Emily's 9th birthday. We had just gone ice skating. That was before there was a factory. Mr. Richard (Leigh & Andrew's dad) and Emily's grandma came to the rink too. This was our first experience ice skating. Although we had a great time, we learned it is very cold and sometimes wet!

Happy Birthday Emily - Part 6

This was Emily's 6th Birthday. We had a pirate party. I don't know if I was still feeling guilty over the Chuck-E-Cheese party last year or was still intimidated by the fact that my homeschooler was going to be "unsocial"; whatever it was, we had invited EVERYONE she knew. Anyway, we had decided on a pirate theme because she loved hunting for "treasure." So I had it all planned out, we would walk the plank, make eye patches and hook hands, and of course, we would hunt for treasure. I think we had about 16 kids coming. We had a huge backyard, it was going to be great. Well, another problem with being born in September is the fact that it is hurricane weather. The evening before, we had gone to my mom's for a family birthday gathering (nearly 1/2 my extended and personal family has a birthday in September). Now, my grandfather has been a fisherman and crabber on the NC coast for most of my life. He had come to his winter house for the weekend to celebrate birthdays. So, Saturday afternoon when they were calling for an evacuation of the coast, he decides he needs to GO there to properly secure his equipment, house, boat, etc. Now, my grandfather is a very intelligent man. However, for some reason he had/has zero trust and/or faith in weather men and refused to evacuate unless HE thought necessary. By this time, my grandfather was already in his early 70s and Hurricane Dennis was already there. So my uncle (who is two years older than myself - his frontal lobe is not quite as developed as it should be), his brother-in-law (who is Hispanic and at the time knew VERY little English) and Ryan volunteered to go tie everything down. So, they left the party and drove the 2 hr drive into the storm. If you didn't turn onto the driveway for my grandparent's house - you would run into the ocean. The guys parked the truck a ways down the road and walked the rest of the way. The water by the house was already chest high. They got into the house, put valuables (or what was left) in the attic, tied down tanks, etc. Then they decided they had better get back to the truck. The water had already come up to the grill. If Ryan was not a praying man, he became one that night. The truck was minutes from being washed away. It took them nearly 1 hour to get just a few miles to a friend's house more inland. Now, all this time I was at my mother's house waiting for updates. The last time we had heard from them was that the water was already chest high at the house. It was the longest night of my life. Fairly early Sunday morning, the storm was over there and moving toward us (just rain). So they went back to the house and some of the water had receded. Relieved, I went home to prepare for a pirate birthday party in the rain, with 16 kids! Ryan pulled in our driveway about 20 minutes before the party was to begin smelling of gas. I don't know why I remember that but I do. I can still smell it. Anyway, we improvised. We made patches and hooks in the living room, we walked the plank in the kitchen, we had a treasure hunt in the garage. In a moment of desperation, I filled a swimming pool with packing peanuts and put treasures in it. Overall, I think the party was a success despite the horrible rainy weather outside. There were many times after that where someone needed to go back down to the coast - it was never again Ryan. We have gone afterwards to help with the clean-up efforts, but never during. There are some things just not worth losing.

Happy Birthday Emily - Part 3, 4 & 5

This is Emily on her 3rd birthday. She had an Esmeralda party. At the time, we had never seen The Hunchback of Notre Dame, nor has since then, it become one of our favorites. However, for whatever reason, Emily was taken with the Esmeralda dress at the Disney Store. Emily and I were great window shoppers and the Disney store was one of our favorite places to go. I don't know if it was the jingle in the sash or the colors but it was all Emily would talk about. Well, Ryan and I decided we would splurge and get her the dress. Wouldn't you know that the store was out of her size. And, that was before you could jump on the Internet and order one. So the store said they could order one and it would be shipped directly to our house. I was thrilled. I had never spent so much on a dress, much less a costume dress, and it was going to be shipped to my house BEFORE her birthday, the sales lady assured me. Thirty minutes BEFORE her party was to begin, a friendly lady from the Disney store called to let me know that my order had arrived. We lived in Fletcher and the Disney Store was in Asheville - 30 minutes away. Needless to say, I was livid. We had the party, I had already bought Emily a little Esmeralda dress from Wal-Mart (just in case the Disney store fell through). When the party was over, Emily came into the house, laid on the floor and said she was sleepy. We checked her head, only to find a temperature of 102. So, a sick child, no present from her parents, no fancy Esmeralda dress. The day was a wash.

This is Emily the next day, feeling much better after a few doses of Motrin and a trip to the mall for her dress. It was not a pretty sight at the Disney store. Let's just say, we got five dollars off the price of the dress. It was years before I ever ordered anything from there again. Emily, however, was thrilled and I even let her wear her dress to school (daycare) the next day. For any of you that know me, that was QUITE a stretch! :) The crazy thing is, we are studying the Muslim culture in school and Alexa came down to lunch today wearing this dress. This is her idea of what Muslim women must wear. I guess I got my $25 worth out of this costume.

This is Emily's 4th birthday. This is the party where my love affair with birthdays began. It was by far, my most inspired party. At the time, Emily loved Blue's Clues. It had just begun to come on tv and the market was not crazy like it is now with Blue's Clues EVERYTHING. So, I improvised. My friend Tracey helped me orchestrate the games. We called it Emily's clues. Her cake had her two hands in pink icing on the top. We would play "Emily's Clues" to decide what to do. We had the clues for Duck, Duck, Goose, pin the tail on the donkey, have cake, and open presents. It was ALOT of fun. Ryan said I should sell my idea. Months later, you could buy it in blue's clues form along with a Blue cake pan for $19.99 at Kmart.

These are her friends that came to the party. Poor Taylor, (the only boy) was subject to all of Emily's parties - they were great buds. I have to say, Emily endured her turn at the Tonka party he had. The baby crunched beside Emily is Owen. Our neighbor, Hope, insisted he had to be in the picture.

This is Emily's 5th Birthday. The craze at the time was Arthur. (A couple of months after this, she got a dog which she named Arthur Read.) We just had a small gathering at my moms and we took her to Chuck-E-Cheese. We had just moved to Youngsville a few weeks before and since the school thing hadn't worked out too well, we hadn't met many people. I don't know why I didn't take any pictures at Chuck-E-Cheese. I was still under the impression that GOOD mothers bake birthday cakes and have parties at home. Ha, have I learned MY lesson! :)

Beauty

This past weekend, we went to the beach. We have been going to this same beach house for a couple of years now. We usually go a couple of times a summer, sometimes for a week, sometimes for just a weekend. However, we hadn't found the time to go yet this summer. We decided on the spur of the moment to go. The house is not right on the beach. It is behind the row of houses right on the beach and across a side street. We can see, hear, and smell the beach from the deck. Anyway, when we got there, we unloaded the car and the kids where begging to "see" the ocean. We walked across the street and up the stairs to reach the ocean. When you get to the landing the picture above is what you see. Alexa, was standing beside me and she says "Wow, the ocean." I say, "Alexa, we have been here a million times, you've seen the ocean before." Taking my hand, she says, "Yes, mommy, but I forget how big and how beautiful it is every time."

I was instantly reminded of child-like faith and making sure I try to see each new day, each new situation, each part of creation as it what created to be: beautiful.

Here are a few more fun pictures. We had a great time.

This is Alexa and Ian playing in the sand. The water was very rough on Saturday morning. They were frustrated that I would not let them go out very far - even though they were "partners" and would look out for one another. I love that they are great playmates.

This is Owen and Emily. The sun was so bright, I was having a hard time seeing what I was actually taking a picture of! We had gone and gotten boogie boards. They had just ridden in a wave.

Ryan had gotten some paddle ball rackets when we went into town. He and Owen were having some fierce paddle ball competitions. You would think they were in the Olympics. The funny thing was I just had to laugh at Ryan's concerns that Owen is "too competitive." That is SO the pot calling the kettle black!!!

This is a picture of Ian and Ryan taken minutes apart. Ian still enjoying and basking in the sun - even though we had been on the beach for two solid straight days. We have never been on the beach so long consecutively, ever. Unfortunately, this is Ryan being held hostage against his will. Unlike the rest of us, Ryan burns just walking to the mailbox. By this time in the weekend, he was ready to go back to the house! :) We had just as much fun at the house too, we played go fish, Banana grams, apples to apples, jr, and uno attack. It was a great time. I love my family and all their quirks too!

Happy Birthday Emily - Part 2

This is Emily on the day of her second birthday. She was so impressed, she dressed herself. Aren't you impressed by her fashion sense!? I love the mismatched Barney socks and of course, the one glass in the sunglasses. She was about to go lay down for a nap.

We had recently gone to the circus. This is a picture of Ryan getting ready to wake Emily up so we could give her her birthday present early because we were going to a friend's house for dinner. Poor Emily, she was such a sweet guinea pig. She just rolled over and laughed when she saw him and said "you funny daddy" and rolled back over until he whispered "there are presents" you didn't have to tell her twice.

This kitchen center is what we got her for her 2nd birthday. We were SO excited. This is the first thing we had bought (for Emily or otherwise) that was over $100. The funny thing about looking back at this picture is that I (actually Ryan at my request) just put this kitchen center up in the attic because Alexa and Ian were tired of playing with it. We still have all the parts. I guess that was a good $100 investment.

This is her talking on the phone. One of the kids in her daycare had a birthday the day after and we were going to their house to have a birthday celebration for the girls. It was a Lion King theme; that is why she has on her Lion King suit.

This is a picture of her 2nd birthday party. It was just family. My mom made her the carousel cake.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Emily. She loved Snow White. Ryan was out of town taking the CPA exam. I was terrified to stay in our house alone, especially during Halloween. I don't know why Halloween made a difference, but it did. Anyway, my dad took pity on us, took vacation time and came and stayed with us until Ryan got back. Dad and I took Emily to the Fall festival at our church. It's a good thing the wicked stepmother didn't ask the mirror who the fairest in the land was this night. :)

This is Emily's Christmas dress when she was two. I should have actually switched these two pictures because she is older in this picture than the one below. Alexa wore this dress for Christmas up until 2 years ago. My mom made it.

This is Emily's two year old picture. I must have had a thing for hats. She used to carry this little dog around. It is actually one of the first presents Ryan gave me when we were dating. I did not intend for the dog to be in the picture. However, when we got to the place to have her picture made, she freaked out when they changed the background behind her. So, we compromised and let her take her picture with the dog. After that experience, we always left the room when they were changing the backdrop or we picked one and stuck with it.

Happy Birthday Emily - Part 1

Here are a few pictures from Emily's first year. As much as I wanted to put her first few days up, they are the only ones I have done in scrapbook form; seeing that I only have 4 pages done -(in total of any years) I couldn't bear to undo the pictures so that I could scan them. Here are a few of the details:
We were having a difficult time coming up with a name for the baby. We did not find out whether she was a girl or a boy. So, we had to come up with both. I always assumed I would name a child Jordan. I don't know why - it has just always been what I would name a baby - boy or girl. Well, as it turns out, Ryan has a cousin named Jordan and his mother thought it would be too confusing to have two children in the same family with the same name. (I have seen/met the other Jordan approx. 3 times in all the time I have known Ryan's family.) Anyway, we decided against Jordan. I don't know exactly how the name Emily came to be. I have a great grand mother named Emma Lee but I didn't really know her. We had a friend who died in a car crash in college named Elizabeth and we both liked that name. So we decided we would name a girl Emily Elizabeth (no, I had never heard of the Clifford series at the time) and we would name a boy Zachary Ryan. Wouldn't you know it that the Wed. before she was born (she was born on a Friday) a hurricane hit the NC coast - guess what its name was - yep, Emily. There were 3 other baby girls named Emily in the hospital. I was so mad but by that time we had settled on Emily (that is one of the reasons all our other children have more unique names).
She weighed 9lbs and 13oz and was born at 7:00pm.

She was about 3 weeks old here. One great thing about

her being so big at birth is that she could almost hold her

head up when she was born. We weren't overly

terrified we would break her. Ryan worked on campus and

this the t-shirt the ladies sent Emily. All four kids wore

this shirt.

This is Emily's Christmas dress

she was 3 months old.

This is Ryan and Emily asleep on the couch. That was before we knew she wasn't suppose to sleep on her stomach or on/with a person. Oh well, our bad; although, it seems she survived.



This is Emily at 6 months. I loved this outfit, especially the

hat. I think I still have it somewhere...

This is Emily helping Ryan study for the CPA

exam. We were hoping it would give her a jump

start in Math. I think it backfired on us; she

hates math.

We lived in a small, one room apartment and this was her favorite place to be. She would take all of the Tupperware out and climb in. Even when we moved into a bigger house, she still played in the cabinet. Maybe that's why she has a fear of getting shut in places. Although, I never shut her in the cabinet, I promise. :)



Okay, I have to tell you, we were parents that said our child would not watch television. I think it lasted about 6 months. However, Ryan was insistent that she would NOT watch the new purple dinosaur that came on PBS. Well, one day when Emily was about 3 months old, Ryan heard (on the radio) about a 3 year old who saved his family when his house caught on fire. When asked how he knew what to do, the boy replied he did what Barney had told him to do. So, Ryan recanted and said Barney would be allowed. Emily LOVED Barney. Ryan bought her the very first Barney anything she ever owned (and she owned ALOT of Barney things). This is a picture of Emily's first birthday party. We had it at her babysitter's house. Yep, you guessed it - that's Ryan in that Barney suit!

This is her official "one year old" picture. That purple blob on her leg - yep, it's Barney!